Assassin of Beacon Volume 2
by Crows-flight-path
Summary: Ruby Rose, her future is endangered but not by Grimm and not by lack of knowledge, but because of the Atlas military, it seems that everything is starting to fall apart and she can only struggle to keep her home and new family from falling apart but with the new foe that has arisen that seems to be an impossibility, but she has to try even if her fear is as powerful as it is...
1. Kill the General

**A/N Here we are Volume two and things are already on the move...**

Akame had failed, she had no idea what happened or where she was, right now all she knew was that she had to escape, but she was out of her element here, a ship of unknown design, with an unknown number of solders of unknown strength, for now she could either gamble or play it safe, her instincts told her to play it safe and wait... but for what?

**(o)**

Yang sat alone in a dark cell with a single door on the opposite side of the room, her sister was gone, Blake and Weiss were gone, Akame was gone, she was alone for now and her wrists were shackled to the wall like she was some kind of animal.

"HEY!? ASSHOLES!?" Yang shouted loudly it reverberated around the cell "ANSWER ME!?" she shouted after a few minutes of silence, the response remained the same as she slumped against the wall and slid down to a sitting position and mumbled to herself "Assholes."

**(o)**

Weiss woke up in a warm room filled with fancy white furniture, across from her sat her sister looking very disappointed and holding a rag over her nose

"Weiss, I've always supported you, you know that. So tell me why would you fight for that... murderer?" Winter asked clearly hurt by her sisters actions, Weiss didn't speak she just sat quietly staring through her sister "If you're wondering-" Winter drew the rag from her nose revealing it to be soaked in large amounts of blood "-this, is a gift from your 'leader', honestly I don't know what Ozpin was thinking leaving a little monst-" Winter began but was cut off by Weiss

"Don't talk badly about her, shes my family." Weiss said her voice holding an unknown strength in it, it surprised Winter but she stood firm

"Their not _your_ family Weiss, _I am_. Imagine how I feel about this, I thought I was going to help my little sister from a monster and here I find that you've been brainwashed." Winter broke all her pained emotions finally revealing themselves

"She has been completely honest with me, she care-" Weiss began calm as ever but was cut off by Winter

"NO! NO SHE DOESNT!" Winter shouted fury in her eyes before it quickly vanished into pity "She is lying to you, its her job, shes nothing but a killer and a monster."

"How would you even know what shes done, or what she went through?" Weiss asked calmly gaining more control of the situation

"General Esdeath." Winter answered but stopped her explanation when she saw the complete horror appear on her face "Weiss? whats wrong?"

"How... shes dead, Akame told us..." Weiss stopped herself from saying any more quickly remembering that Winter was listening to every word she said

"See, she lied about Esdeaths' death, how do you even know if shes told you the truth?" Winter asked grinning and taking the petty victory. Weiss didn't respond, she returned to sitting quietly and began to formulate a plan to escape

**(o)**

Blake was chained up to a wall listening closely to the guards outside her cell, to a human they were soundproof but to her it was just really muffled

"So Fern, what do you think 'bout the prisoners?" one asked causing the other to scoff

"Which one? Their all good lookin' I don't know which one I'd pick though." the other responded causing the first to laugh

"That's not what I meant, what I meant was, whats with General Esdeath? She's never take prisoners before, so why now?"

"I dunno, maybe she wants to fuck 'em." the other offered causing the other to growl

"I can never hold a serious conversation with you, can I?" he asked in a hopeless voice

"Fine, fine. All I know is that; Spezialist Schnee knows the white one, and the General has the red one." he answered in a just as deflated voice, Blake continued to listen for anything useful for her escape, but the information on Esdeath caused her fear, but she was hoping it was just a coincidence.

**(o)**

Ruby sat across from Esdeath in a small dark room the only source of light being a small lamp between them, Esdeath had a glass of wine in hand and was smiling creepily at the girl across from her, her eyes glowing with some form of predatory intrigue

"Tell me, what has Akame told you about me? I know for a fact that you know me, the way you act makes it very obvious." Esdeath asked then took a sip of her wine watching the girl closely

"She-" Ruby's voice came weakly she quickly coughed and spoke again in a very careful tone "She told us, that... you're..." Ruby was choosing her words as carefully as possible and thus speaking very slowly, Esdeath didn't mind it though, she just waited patiently "She said that you're... a... monster... I cant think of any other way to say it, she said you're a monster, you're a murderer, you're bloodthirsty and you nearly killed my uncle." Ruby spoke quickly letting her anger guide her words but realized her mistake just as she said it and the air grew frozen

"So, you're related to that traitor, I now see how closely you resemble him..." Esdeath spoke in a dangerous tone, but it quickly vanished into a warmth that confused Ruby "It's good that you are not like him though, I see loyalty in your eyes, unlike his. Now then, did she tell you how closely I got him to death? I'd really like to know." She asked as she rose and walked around the table getting herself much closer to Ruby and taking genuine interest in what the girl was going to say

"She said that after your second battle with him." Ruby answered fear controlling her more so than anything else

"Yes, I wanted him to suffer for killing another of my subordinates, so I stabbed him here, and here. Such a shame... I let my bloodlust get the better of me." Esdeath reminisced pointing out where two stab wounds would be on Ruby who shuttered in fear "There's no need to worry, should you impress me such a fate shall not befall you. Come with me." Esdeath spoke and gestured for Ruby to follow her, which she did

**(o)**

Walking down hall after hall solders constantly dropped what they were doing to salute Esdeath as she guided Ruby to a room with a very strong looking door on it, Esdeath typed something onto the keypad and the door opened revealing a very large room mainly unfurnished but filled with tons of different trophies from different creatures of Grimm and what Ruby could only assume flag's from bandit tribes

"Wow, this place is nice." Ruby commented entering the room and looking around seeing many different Grimm trophies around the room "What is that from?" She asked looking at what looked like a broken bone mask

"That's was from an assassin from the White Fang, they didn't like the way I was dealing with their associates, so they though to kill me, but they didn't have the strength to follow through." Esdeath explained still watching Ruby closely as she walked around the room looking at every little trophy she had and answering any questions Ruby asked about them, watching as Ruby's smile grew and grew until Esdeath had her answer

**(o)**

"Weiss. You cant just sit quietly forever, so stop pouting and talk to me, it the only way I can help you." Winter coxed trying to get Weiss to speak to her, Weiss sat quietly not even acknowledging her sister "Weiss, if you don't speak to me I'm going to have to turn you over to General Esdeath. She has given me one day to get any information out of you willingly, but after that you go to her and its out of my hands. Please, I want to see my sister after tomorrow." Winter bluffed trying to break Weiss's silence, she failed in that as well, causing her to nearly shout in rage

**(o)**

Yang punched the door again, causing no damage to it but it was better than just waiting around for someone to come for her, and it was taking her mind off of the issue that she was currently imprisoned, with each strike she could feel her semblance growing stronger and stronger, soon enough she would be able to bust down the door and find everyone and escape, that was the only thing keeping her from despair

**(o)**

Esdeath guided Ruby quickly towards an unknown location, something in the general had changed, now she was smiling and almost skipping along her attitude having completely changed from that of a calm calculating general to that of a schoolgirl, Ruby couldn't understand what was going on anymore all she knew was one second she was asking about Esdeaths' hunt in the swamps of Mistral the next she was being dragged down a hallway by said woman

"Not to be rude but where are we going?" Ruby asked fearing whats to come, Esdeath stopped moving and pushed Ruby against a wall and spoke sadly "Tatsumi, do you recognize that name?" Esdeath asked, Ruby nodded, Akame had written much about him and how much he meant to her and Qrow "She might have left out that he was my lover, the only in my life who gained my affection. But after we died, I learned that regardless of what I did I would never have his heart, so I moved on to find another who's heart I could have." Esdeath explained to the younger of the two, who still had a confused look on her face "You; you have fulfilled all my requirements perfectly." Esdeath said as bluntly as possible "This emotion; love, which I've become obsessed with I wish to share with you, Tatsumi was my first, but I want you to truly be mine."

Ruby was blushing profusely at the confession the woman had made, once again being dragged to her along to an unknown location again "I'm sure... you're... nice? But-" Ruby began but was cut off by Esdeaths' lips slamming into hers

"We can sort out the details later, but for now lets get better acquainted." Esdeath brushed off and dragged the dumbstruck girl along side her

**(o)**

Ruby was sitting frozen in fear as Esdeath hugged her closely, her heart racing faster then she could ever remember it moving, they were currently in Esdeaths' room, surrounded by weapons and trophies, a slight hue of blue light glowing around the room

"There's no need for you to fear me." Esdeath cooed as she slowly pet Ruby's hair "So long as you're mine, I'll be yours, and no harm shall ever end you." Esdeath happily said which scared Ruby even more

"I'm worried about my team and Akame." Ruby said after a few moments of fearful silence, Esdeath sighed

"How about this, I'll send for your team and we'll all have lunch together, will that satisfy you?" Esdeath asked moving so she could see Ruby's face

"What about Akame?" Ruby asked causing the air to grow colder, she knew she chose the wrong words

"She will remain imprisoned until I see fit to release or execute her. Ask again and her fate will be sealed." Esdeath warned coldly standing and pulling Ruby up with her

"Okay." Ruby quietly said as they exited the room

**(o)**

Winter watched as Weiss sat as still as a statue, Winter growled watching her sister block her out completely

"Weiss you cant do this! Say something!" Winter shouted finally losing it, she grabbed Weiss by her coat and pulled her up into a standing position, Weiss ignored here still "Godsdammit say something!" Winter shouted as loudly as she could

"Something." Weiss said calmly causing Winter to scoff and throw her back down onto her seat

"Do you think this is a game Weiss!? because its not! You attacked me! ME! YOUR OWN DAMN SISTER AND A MEMBER OF THE ATLAS MILITARY, Sie könnten alle eingesperrt oder getötet werden. VON ALLEN MENSCHEN IM ATLAS-MILITÄR. IHR TEAM MUSSTE MICH UND DAS ALLGEMEINE AUSWÄHLEN." Winter shouted her voice changing from Vydalian to Atlesian as she shouted, but Weiss understood it all.

"I know its not a game, that's why I'm not talking. What do you even know of Esdeath?" Weiss asked finally speaking after hours of silence

"Shes the youngest general in the atlas military, earning her rank by out witting and overpowering her foes, she turned a force of seven hundred solders in a backwater post into a force strong enough to route two converging hordes of Grimm both twice the size of the one you all faced, shes an absolute genius on and off the battlefield, a Brilliant strategist, shes made her career as an officer, she'll Recklessly charged into enemy lines, she's a harsh leader because she has to, being the leader of the strongest army in Atlas, and shes been an officer in all ground divisions types from Infanterie to Panzer, shes a logistics wizard, one of the fastest planners I've ever met, her mere presence turns her army into a aggressive assault force, a master of all our offensive doctrines, shes charismatic, shes adaptable, an expert when it comes to cold weather fighting, and so much more, shes a highly decorated officer and well respected by all her solders, those who stand out she recognizes, and those who fail due to laziness she punishes personally, I wouldn't want to serve any other general." Winter proudly said holding her head high

"Glad to hear I still have your loyalty." Esdeaths voice came from the doorway causing Winter to quickly spin around and salute her

"General!" Winter said proudly holding the salute

"Gather Weiss, Blake, and Yang, we're having lunch." Esdeath ordered then exited the room, Winter relaxed after the door shut

"I can really feel the care." Weiss commented coldly causing Winter to sigh

"Don't worry, you'll see when you go to eat, most of the time she eats with the lower ranks, but sometimes she'll grace the higher ranks with a feast, so it all depends on where you're eating." Winter explained and gestured for Weiss to follow her as they went to gather the others

**(o)**

Blake sat in silence waiting to see if the guards would give any useful information

"So... football?"

"No."

"Baseball?"

"No."

"Can I have a hint?"

"I play video games."

"Video games?"

"Yes?"

"Cool, what kind of games do you play?"

"No."

"That's... that's not... that's not an answer!"

thus far she hadn't gotten anything useful, she just knew that one hated talking to the other, but both of their attitudes quickly changed at the sound of two sets of heels hitting the floor

"Ma'am!" they said in unison

"I'm here for Blake, the general wishes to see her and her friends." an unfamiliar voice came

"Of course ma'am." one said and the door opened "I'll get her now." the solder entered the cell and began to undo the chains on her wrist and ankles

"So, Spezialist Schnee what do you like to do in your spare time?" the guard outside asked, causing the one in the cell to groan

"He's been trying to get everyone in his squad and above to tell him what they do in their spare time so he can get them presents, honestly he's the nicest corrupt person I know, don't tell anyone I told you that though okay." the solder whispered to Blake as he undid her the last chain and helped her stand guiding her out of the cell

"Shes been sitting down for a while so her legs are a bit weak." he explained as they exited into the corridor, Blake's eyes immediately locked onto Weiss who moved and embraced her

"I gotcha Blake." Weiss said quietly as she took over the carrying position as they followed Winter towards Yang's cell, leaving the guards to their 'conversation'

**(o)**

Yang slammed her fist into the door again, slowly she was building up power behind her semblance her plan was to distract everyone on the ship with herself so the others could arm themselves, now that plan would have worked if the door didn't fly open as she went to strike it again causing her to fall face first into the floor

"Owww... whats the big idea- Hey Weiss, hey Blake- I was slamming into that door for almost twenty minutes now you're here, gods your room service is terrible." Yang snarked after she got up and hugged both Weiss and Blake relieved to see them safe

"I suppose there's no reason to release you from your restraints, come lets get you all to the general." Winter said turning back around and walking away

"Wait, what about Akame?" Blake asked causing Weiss to nod in agreement

"The general left her out specifically, so she will not be joining you unless I am told otherwise, now lets move." Winter said sternly causing them all to share looks, if they had their weapons they could take on Winter but unarmed it was a gamble "And if you are debating attacking me, you should know your leader is with the General, It wouldn't do to cause a scene." Winter warned walking away from them, they all quickly followed

**(o)**

Ruby sat in the seat closest to Esdeath who was happily glancing at her and writing in a notebook

"Tell me Ruby how old are you?" Esdeath asked after a few moments of silence

"I'm fifteen, I'll be turning sixteen October thirty-first." Ruby answered trying to get her courage back but it seemed like Esdeath was capable of draining it with ease "Esdeath, can I ask you something?" Ruby requested carefully

"Of course, if we are to be lovers you must know me." Esdeath confirmed turning all of her attention onto Ruby

"What's your semblance?" Ruby asked bluntly feeling she had to ask soon or she wouldn't ask at all

"That's simple, I can rejuvenate my stamina and that of my allies, if I ever get tired I can just activate my semblance and its like starting over with better odds of winning." Esdeath answered "Its quiet nice. Downside is it takes up huge amounts of Aura" Ruby suddenly felt completely hopeless, there was no way to beat this woman, she destroyed Akame with ease and even if they wear her down she could just rejuvenate her stamina and they would have to start over with worse odds

"Now, now, no need to get so down, yes its impossible to kill me by any normal means, but Murasame exists for now. So if Akame were to escape unnoticed, retrieve the blade, successfully sneak up to me and land two hits within milliseconds of each other then my defeat is possible, but that is impossible, considering her current location." Esdeath happily said watching as the small glimmer of hope faded from Ruby's eyes "So I suppose you are right to look that way, escape is impossible, I wont lose another one I love to Akame and Qrows' delusions." just as Esdeath finished speaking the door to the dinning hall opened and Winter entered

"General, I've retrieved them." Winter said saluting Esdeath

"Good, you may return to your duties." Esdeath replied as the rest of team RWBY moved to sit near their leader as Winter left the door shutting behind them

"Welcome, this meeting has been set up by me to; blah, blah, blah, and all that bureaucratic nonsense, now then lets discuss your futures." Esdeath said dropping all formalities as they sat

"Cool, cool. Can we leave now?" Yang asked clearly angry by the whole situation

"I don't recall giving you permission to speak yet, but if you wish to leave there's an airlock over there, the drop will kill you and save me the trouble." Esdeath replied calmly causing Yang to hold her tongue "No?" Esdeath asked recognizing how easily Yang could be taunted, Esdeath then smiled at her causing Yang untold levels of anger

"Why are we here? You seemed pretty content on letting us all wonder if the others were fine until then. What changed?" Weiss asked resting her hands on the table

"Right, what to do with you all? As I'm sure you all know, having attacked me and Winter you've place yourselves on the criminal side of things thus earning yourselves bounties, the grand total for your bail is almost four million Lien each." Esdeath explained watching each of them carefully as they sat quietly "Now, that's _only _your bail, add on the full pardon charges and that'll put you up to... around 320 million total, or 64 million each. Double that for Blake due to her heritage." Esdeath explained her smile widening as they all shared shocked looks "And that's _if_ I play fair. If I wanted to I could make each of your bails over 1.5 billion."

Weiss was the first to speak "I highly doubt Reichsmarschall Ironwood, would allow such a thing, General."

Esdeath laughed at that statement before speaking "Ha! All humans are weak and corrupt, while I don't have the freedom I once had to battle to my hearts content, James still lets me do what I will as long as it has no long reaching effects on Atlas itself, he even let me promote Akame to Oberst because I wanted to keep an eye on her, and that plan did pay off in the end. I can understand Najenda a bit better now though, the thrill of watching a plan come together is almost as great as killing a strong opponent."

"How does she know about Najenda?" Yang asked having no one to speak with about her current captor

"How could I have forgotten. I am General Esdeath of the Atlas military 4th militärisches Protektorat. But to be completely honest we all know its an army." Esdeath answer happily watching Yangs' jaw drop "Occupation is something I usually left to my Beasts but I don't have them here, yet anyways."

"Okay... but how are you alive? From what Akame told us Qrow killed you." Yang asked trying to make sense of the ghost in front of her

Esdeath spoke again afterwards beginning her tale "After I died, I woke up in a place where all worlds converged, but I was weak there. Not that I had much trouble but I felt a constant weakness..."

**(\\_/)**

_Esdeath took step after step following her instincts leading her towards the one she loved, the yanking of her soul causing her to slow her pace for some reason she felt a crushing weight on her body one which forced her to walk slowly which slowly became a problem..._

**(\\_/)**

_She lost track of how long she'd been walking, days, weeks, years? At this point she was prepared to kill anything like an animal as she dragged her heavy feet, until she found a house in the middle of the woods, it was large and had two stories but what made it stand out to her was the sign on the front that read 'Night Raid' she knew if Tatsumi was anywhere it was here, moving as quickly as she could she stumbled forward a bit and leaned on the side of the building almost all her strength gone as she slammed her fist into the door cracking it than collapsed to the ground falling asleep as the crack repaired itself_

**(\\_/)**

_Slowly opening her eyes she was greeted by three people one she recognized the other two only from posters_

"_Well, look who finally woke up." the man said glaring at her "I'm Bulat, but I'm sure you knew that, that's Sheele and that's Chelsea."_

"_Where's Tatsumi?" Esdeath asked weakly trying to sit herself up but found it too difficult_

"_He's making dinner right now with Lubbock, but that's not important what is important is why you are here, you have no reason to come after us anymore so why are you here?"_

"_I just want to be with the one I love." Esdeath answered feeling new strength rise as she said that_

"_Well too bad, he doesn't love you." Chelsea said coldly swapping the lollipop to the other side of her mouth and glaring at her "Besides, do you really think we'd let someone like you stay here, this place is for Night Raid and those we like, last I checked you're at the very bottom of alllll our lists'." her words made Esdeath begin to think, maybe shes right, she was probably the scariest person Tatsumi ever met and she dragged him away from everyone he knew, but she loved him what else was she suppose to do? Let him go and get himself killed... yet that happened regardless of her wishes._

"_I get it, you want to be with someone you love. But you aren't going to find them here, Liver stayed for a little while but he moved on when Tatsumi got here and told us about you." Bulat comforted pulling Esdeath to her feet_

"_What am I suppose to do without him?" Esdeath asked, once in her life she felt completely lost of purpose but she found it very easy to trust the man in front of her and found that he was the one who had the answers she wanted_

"_Move on, find another to love, if not here then somewhere else. I've been here a while and did some exploring, there's a land northeast of here filled with strange monsters, but from what people going there have said there's suppose to be some kind of... 'thing' there to give you something of a chance, I can't say anything else or you can't access it, oh and be careful of your words 'round here too, you never know what people can and cannot know." Bulat explained pulling her to her feet and guided her out front and pointed out the direction he mentioned_

"_You aren't lying to me, I can tell." Esdeath commented looking him dead in the eyes "I'll leave for now, but when I return I'll have learn more of love, oh and if any of my subordinates make their way here can you tell them to build a house across from yours, I feel like we should keep an eye on you all." Esdeath finished sarcastically_

"_Yeah I'll tell 'em, only if you promise to stop kidnapping Tatsumi." Bulat snarked back both of them shared a quick laugh then Esdeath spoke again_

"_No need to worry, I'm too hungry to even think about fighting."_

"_Its because of your karma, you've been remembered as a monster so your soul is weak here, if you want to be freed of that you just need to build up a better reputation around here, Lubbock, Tatsumi and I all help the nearby villages with food and lumber. While Chelsea and Sheele help with maintaining the towns economy and infrastructure... well mainly Chelsea but Sheele has gotten better at it." Bulat explained as he walked Esdeath a bit of the way towards her new purpose_

"_Thank you, Bulat." Esdeath thanked as they left each other, Esdeath walking to her new purpose, Bulat returning to his family._

**(o)**

"Than I walked until I was here, born twenty years ago with all my memories and experience, and a caring mother and father. Both of which are still alive and care for me even though I told them what I told you all. Then again I didn't know that I in the same location as Qrow or Akame, I thought I'd never see either of them again, but I'm happy to know that such challenges will still arise." Esdeath finished placing her hand on Ruby's

"So that's the afterlife?" Ruby mumbled to herself not moving her hand from Esdeaths

"Don't worry Ruby." Esdeath said rapping her arm around Ruby's neck and pulled her closer resting their foreheads together "So long as I'm alive you don't need to worry about dying."

"I'm not a big fan of you touching my sister like that." Yang growled clenching her fist feeling a powerful surge of energy beat through her momentarily

"Ah yes, you two are related, its rather nice to know that my love has more to care about then me, an added challenge, but I know that in the end, she'll choose me." Esdeath spoke tightening her grip on Ruby who for all her strength was having a very hard time breathing

"Can we please return to business?" Weiss asked carefully hiding her emotions from Esdeath, but she could tell Weiss feared for her leaders safety

"Right, right, so here's my proposal; you all serve as my agents, and after eight years of service I'll release you. Obviously though Ruby is exempt from this, she will be staying with me for far _far_ longer, you three on the other hand are not, so you have to work like everyone else." Esdeath proposed folding her hands on the table looking at each of them Esdeath then added "Its a deal in your favor, eight years working as a specialist is equal to half of half, of one of your bails at most. You'll also get all the benefits as solders in my army as well as my protection and name, both of which are better than any weapon you could possible design or use."

"Do you mind if we discuss this in private?" Weiss asked after looking at everyone

"There's not much to discuss, its yes or no. but if it makes you feel better, sure." Esdeath replied then got up and exited the room, just as she shut the door all vents and the door she exited through were covered in a thick layer of ice

looking at each of them Weiss realized that they really had no choice but to agree "Dammit, where is Akame? We really need her right now."

"I don't know, but do you think we can scale the outside of the ship? She left that door unfrozen." Yang suggested and pointed at it true to her word it was fine

"If we fall we'll die its too risky, we should just obey for now." Ruby said clearly scared of Esdeaths power, given how shaky her voice was, seemingly delusional Ruby continued "If we listen she might let Akame go and then we just have to work for her for a few more years then we're free, right?"

"I don't think she plans on letting you go Ruby, what do we do if she keeps you? And from what Akame said about her if we serve her for _eight_ _years_ we're serving her for life. I don't want that, how are we gonna get out of this?" Yang spoke again clearly thinking only of Ruby's safety

"We're backed into a corner, we need to make a way out." Weiss added placing her head in her hands

"If we..." Blake began but let the line of though die, none of them knew what to do with their current situation they had few choices

"I have an idea." Ruby said quietly her voice holding very little conviction but drew all attention to her "If we want to get the best possible outcome, Akame needs to be freed. So we should do everything to assure that, right?" Ruby asked changing everyone's views on their situation. She was right, Akame was their only shot at getting rid of Esdeath right now and their only bet "Alright, then let me do the talking. With you all here I think I can keep my confidence." Yang placed her hand on her shoulder

"We're all counting on you Ruby." Yang comforted causing Ruby to smile at her sister

**(o)**

After another few minutes of talking an coordination of their plan the ice finally shattered and Esdeath reentered the room with a slim box in her hands and took her seat setting the box next to her and looked at them expectantly, causing WBY to look to Ruby who nodded confidently

"We don't have many options to choose from, so we went with the one that we know to be the safest." Ruby said causing Esdeaths smile to widen "But, we do have a couple conditions-" Ruby began but was cut off by Esdeath

"You do know that this is surrender, not negotiations. You don't get to have 'conditions'." Esdeath spoke watching Ruby for any weakness seeing many but chose not to act yet

"Conditional surrender?" Ruby offered not understanding its meaning causing Esdeath to laugh and Weiss to facepalm

"Sure, we'll go with that, you make your condition and I'll counter it with one of my own, fair?" Esdeath offered smiling happily at Ruby turning her full attention to her

"We'll serve you for eight years, but you release Akame now." Ruby said turning her attention completely to Esdeath who was unreadable

"I'll release Akame if _your_ sentence is increased to indefinitely." Esdeath countered, Ruby's eyebrow scrunched and she looked to Weiss

"Are you kid- it means unlimited or unspecified amount of time, get a dictionary. By the gods." Weiss answered completely frustrated by her leaders antics

"Ah... okay, well, I cant really... live forever so I don't really know how that'll work." Ruby joked everyone sat quietly "Okay... not the time for jokes... got it." Esdeath raised an eyebrow as she watched Ruby nod a few times "Okay, return Murasame to her as well."

"Well you could just ask me to let her stab me. I'm not a fool." Esdeath coldly said causing everyone to shrink away from her, until her attitude returned to normal and she spoke again "I'll release her but if she wants Murasame back she has until the end of next week, if she fails to retrieve it by then, I'll destroy it."

"Are you going to tell her that?" Ruby asked after a few moments of silence

"If you wear a collar." Esdeath smiled and replied with a slight blush and an excited tone

"Umm... I don't know how to feel about that." Ruby said awkwardly and tugged at her shirt collar

"I'm not a big fan of that kind of kink either." Yang added glaring at Esdeath who raised an eyebrow and spoke as though they were making stupid accusations

"I don't get off to it, I just want people to know who she belongs to from now on." Esdeath waved off causing no comfort and only solidifying their thoughts on the subject

"Okay... I agree to these terms." Ruby agreed after a few moments of refection

"As do I." Esdeath said chuckling a bit as she clicked a collar around Ruby neck causing everyone to blink in surprise

"Where-" Blake began but was cut off by Esdeath who spoke as she ran her fingers through Ruby's hair like she was a dog

"Unimportant. Now your mission; attend Beacon as normal, but send me profiles on all students, teachers, and transfer students, I'll give you a specific list of students and teachers, once that's complete I'll give you more orders." Esdeath ordered standing and looking over her new solders and smiled happily "Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao-Long, I cant wait to watch you all become my most powerful subordinates." Her smile widened and grew more and more sadistic with each word, she then moved and opened the box and placed it in the middle of the table, within it held eight Insignia all of which looked the same except for one set which was braided silver unlike the others, Esdeath grabbed those ones and turned to Ruby and attached them to her shoulders

"Welcome to my army, Major Rose." Esdeath congratulated and turned to the others and spoke "You all report to Ruby as normal, she'll be in charge of administration and planing for your division from now on, she reports directly to me like the other Majors. Winter will supervise her for now, until shes accustomed to her new role. Understood?"

"Yes." They all answered feeling her overpowering stare as she attached their insignia as well

"Good, after Ruby has grown into her new role your division will grow from six members until it becomes a proper division, after that your missions will truly begin." Esdeath explained to them as they exited the room Weiss, Blake, and Yang were all guided to their new barracks by Winter and Ruby was dragged away by Esdeath towards her room.

**(o)**

"Esdeath... I know you want to keep an eye on her but you cant torturer her, it goes against all laws in place after the first world war, so your request will be denied. I've covered for you against Ozpin, I wont cover for you again. No more civilian promotions is that understood." James said sternly glaring at the woman who sat calmly

"While that does put a slight damper on my mood I wont let it get to me. I have achieved my goal." Esdeath calmly replied folding her hands on the table in front of her

James sighed and spoke slowly clearly frustrated by her "I understand how you feel, but I invited you into this order for a reason, you have the strength needed to fight against Salem and her forces, please don't prove me wrong."

"I don't intend to Reichsmarschall, the idea of someone leading such a large collection of powerful creatures is intresting. I do hope she will make a move soon though." Esdeath attempted to reassure, it failed. After a few moments of silence James spoke again his tone becoming a dangerous one

"I don't trust you. But I have no choice, just because you hold enough sway with the council to null my votes _does not_ mean you are in charge of this military, you follow orders and you protect the people of Remnant, its the best we can do right now. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." Esdeath answered calmly and the video feed ended "_**That idiot.**_" Esdeath growled letting killing intent to flow off of her in a steady stream

"General?" Winters voice came causing the killing intent to shrink into a underlying sensation

"What is it Winter?" Esdeath asked glaring over her shoulder at her

"You have a call, from your mother." Winter answered holding out a scroll to her

"Thank you." Esdeath thanked as she took the scroll and answered it holding it up to her ear

**A/N Couldn't do it. I wrote this two days after finishing chapter 12 of the previous volume. This was once a hobby, it is now an obsession, I cant stop. I also want peoples opinion on how this chapter feels, does it feel too all over the place or was it difficult to follow? Things like that.**


	2. Kill the Major

**A/N I need professional help, I cant stop writing again, quick call the number on the fridge; its my nurse Sarah, she has a particular set of skills specifically designed to stop me, please hurry.**

Akame woke and slowly opened her eyes to the sound of the door unlocking and shattering ice, opening her eyes in the darkness just as light flooded the room, her eyes quickly moved around checking her current status, her spine was bruised as was a large majority of her back, arms, and legs, her head was bloody and her hair was coated in said blood, the most obvious issue was her broken forearm which she was made acutely aware of thanks to her hanging from the ceiling by her wrists. Esdeath entered the room looking over the girl and smiling

"Count yourself lucky, thanks to the efforts of my new subordinates your life has been saved." Esdeath dryly commented as she released Akame letting her fall roughly to the ground "If I had my way you would already be licking my boots, but Ruby wanted you to be freed so here we are. You are going free, but if you want Murasame you have a single week to retrieve it, after that its scrap metal." Esdeath said smiling sadistically at her then turned to the doorway and called orders "Toss her out of the ship, I don't really care if she dies."

"Yes ma'am." the two grunts said as they grabbed Akame roughly by her forearms and dragged her away, Akame had held her completely neutral look the entire time but inside she was raging as she was dragged away from her target and towards an airlock to be left to the coin toss of life and death

**(o)**

Yang sat on her bed staring at the insignia in her hands, she felt a rush of emotion; anger, sadness, fear, and pride. The last one she quickly dismissed and looked to the door as it opened and Winter entered, they all glared at her not wanting to see either her or Esdeath anytime soon even if they had no choice

"No need for that, we all serve General Esdeath now, I've come here to ensure we have no hard feelings." Winter spoke casually as she sat down next to Weiss who inched away from her a little

"Of course we have hard feelings." Yang growled glaring at her as she continued to vent "My sister is a toy for that ice bitch and were stuck working for her like sheep."

"From now on you can refer to General Esdeath as, Generaloberst, General, General Esdeath, or Ma'am." Winter ordered her voice changed back to normal and she spoke in an neutral tone again "Your sister will be fine, she is General Esdeaths' love, and will preform as such." that statement earned disgusted looks from Blake and Yang

Weiss joined the conversation to clear up their disgust "The legal consent laws in Atlas is 13 with guardian approval, and considering our new standing in the Atlas military Rubys' guardians are Esdeath and you; Yang. So Esdeath can order Ruby to consent but would also need you to do the same." that caused farther disgust

"Well tough luck Esdeath, I ain't agreeing to that!" Yang said to herself ignoring Winters correction

"Shame, but I wasn't going to try anything yet." Esdeath said neurally from the doorway causing them all to jump, even Winter

"General." Winter gasped and saluted her, Esdeath grinned and strolled forward and pet Winter a bit than sat down next to her

"So what brings you here Winter?" Esdeath asked casually giving Winter her whole attention

"I wanted to clear up any bad blood between us." Winter answered calmly maintaining her composure

"Of course there will be bad blood, you cant just say a few words and clear _this_ up, it'll take time and none of them want to be around either of us right now, so lets leave them be. I'll have Winter come collect you all for a meeting later." Esdeath explained to her subordinate and quickly stood followed by Winter and left, after exiting Yang spoke with near uncontrollable anger "What a bitch."

**(o)**

Esdeath walked to the bridge where people were sitting around taking damage reports and planing their next action all of which Esdeath ignored as she stared out the window staring at nothing but found it easy to just shut down and not focus on anything, closing her eyes she stood alone in the darkness that enveloped her, hoping that whatever happened next works out in her favor

"_I'll finish the job this time Ice Queen." _Esdeath heard a familiar voice whisper in her mind, her eyes snapped open and ducked into a combat stance and quickly looked around seeing no one prepared to attack her, no one prepared to strike, and no one who betrayed her... why does this keep happening?

**(o)**

Ruby was sitting quietly in her office, which surprised her when she though about it, she had a space entirely for her to work in, what was more surprising was that Winter was waiting for her in said office, opening the door and walking in Winter stood and saluted her

"Major." Winter held her salute and stared blankly at nothing

"Ah... um, no need for that... stuff? You are here to help me, right?" Ruby asked as she struggled to remain composed, Winter sighed and sat down

"I understand that, but General Esdeath has been putting all of us through the paces, I'd rather not get punished for dropping my professionalism on accident." Winter answered as Ruby sat down behind the desk, it was empty apart from a computer and a non-mobile scroll

"Alright so when you activate your computer it will scan your aura and create an account accordingly, the General already promoted you and enlisted your team so it should greet you accordingly." Winter explained and Ruby activated the computer and true to her word a few second later it spoke

"_Account activated. Welcome Major Ruby Rose. Setting default._" the computer spoke before opening to a program she didn't recognize

"Right so that should say 'Atlas militärisches Rundfunknetz' and everything should be in Atleasian right?" Winter asked Ruby looking at everything written and found it all to be gibberish

"Yep, I don't understand a single word of it." Ruby confirmed causing Winter to sigh

"I expected as much, there is a member of the Atlas Militär 9. Militärisches Protektorat who's semblance is knowledge transfer that would come in handy." Winter explained by clearly had reservations

"But?" Ruby asked looking from the computer to Winter who seemed to want to complain but settled for asking a question

"May I share my opinion?" Winter asked, instead of venting she asked Ruby if she could, which was confusing to her, most people would just go on a rant but Winter asked for permission to do so

"Yeah, why wouldn't I want you to?" Ruby asked raising an eyebrow

"Thank you, he is an absolute moron he likes to think hes funny but he just causes problems for everyone, so they sent him to a backwater post. Once he thought it would have been funny to show up to class in the girls uniform at Atlas academy, he was always making a fool of himself." Winter vented seeming a little more human than before "I'm sorry for being so rude about that description but I couldn't think of any other way to describe him." Winter quickly apologized after Ruby began to laugh

"Its not that but that sounds like something I heard dad and uncle Qrow talk about something like that before, I don't remember it too well but I think dad or uncle Qrow did the same thing, I wasn't paying very much attention." Ruby waved off as she laughed, Winter held a concerned look for a few moments before joining in her laugh before quickly stopping and recomposing herself

"Anyways back to work, the General wants you to be prepared to help coordinate an up coming mission."

"Uggh fine!" Ruby playfully complained as Winter began to go over military etiquette and laws

**(o)**

Yang, Blake, and Weiss sat in their barracks staring at the provided uniforms they were ordered to wear

"I'm fine with it." Weiss said as she looked over the uniform which look identical to Winters' uniform

"Of course you would be, its your colors; white, gray, and boring." Yang snarked looking over her own, which also looked like Winters'

"We just have to wear them, it doesn't matter if we like them or not." Blake added in causing Yang to sigh

"Yeah but wheres the color?" Yang asked "Walkin' around in the same colors all the time sucks, I figured they'd at least let us color them." Yang began to rant

"I understand but you don't have to like it, once we get to Beacon we get to change into something we do like." Blake waved off as she began to strip, followed by Weiss and finally Yang who was grumbling about not wearing colorful clothes

**(o)**

"General, engine one is slightly damaged and will take at least four hours to fix, engine two is in a slightly unstable condition but should be stable in a little less than a day." the head engineer Mich Gefrorenes explained to Esdeath as the leaders of each department sat waiting to bring issues to their General

"I assume there's no way to make that process any faster?" Esdeath asked looking to him

"Yes ma'am." He answered as he scratched his graying beard before quickly backpedaling and spoke again "I mean- probably, but I'd rather not try anything so dangerous with so many people around."

"If you want to do any tests I prefer you test them in a safer location, next time were in Atlas you can have the time you need to test whatever you want." Esdeath reassured causing him to smile and adjust his glasses

"Thank you general, now I believe that William had something she wanted to ask." He added looking to the tired woman to his left who was currently blindfolded

"Yeah, general may I ask; why did you both employed and promoted a team of children? I know they attacked you, but why?" William asked her voice showing just how tired she was

"They aren't just children they were training with Akame, that means that they are powerful in their own rights. There's something about that girl that the strong always seem to be attracted to, and if we can get them to side with us that just means an easier job for us when she chooses to attack." Esdeath explained to them

"But if were looking for power why not just let me use my semblance on Akame?" William asked resting her head on the table

"Because I don't like your semblance, it takes all the fun out of it." Esdeath shot down

"Aw come on, its not like its permanent... entirely." William complained betting her fists on the table like a child "Can I at least use it on the other kids you got?"

"All of them except Major Ruby Rose." Esdeath agreed causing her to cheer, get up, and leave

"She does know the meeting wasn't over right?" Mich asked looking to the other members of the meeting room, Esdeath groaned

"I knew I should have put off answering that... oh well, Wilhelm how are our communications?"

"For now their fine but with the speed we moved the Array is a bit off its a quick fix but we need to stop transmitting for a bit." Wilhelm explained reading over the reports in front of him

"Very well, inform everyone and get it done quickly." Esdeath ordered causing him to Salute her and leave as well

"Well that's them end of this current meeting considering we need comms for almost everything else. Oh before I forget Felix, have the Manta refueled?"

"Yes ma'am, all of them have refueled and are prepared for another fight." Felix answered happily and they continued to discuss the order of assignments after communications are brought back online

**(o)**

Ruby sat in her office alone, it was gonna take some time to get used to having her own office but for now she was reading the rule book that Winter gave to her before returning to her own duties for a bit, why were there so many rules? A knock at the door drew her attention, Ruby waited for the door to open, after about a minute it didn't open

"You can come in?" Ruby called out and the door opened and a pale man with short blond hair and gray eyes wearing a uniform similar to Esdeaths entered and he smiled at her

"Hallo, jy moet die nuwe hoofvak wees, I was quiet surprised to hear that you're so young." the man greeted happily as he pulled his hat off and sat down across from her

"A-ah um yeah... hi... I- I'm Ruby Rose." Ruby greeted in a very shaky tone causing him to laugh

"You need to get better at showing your presence, sit up straight, square your shoulders, never stutter, and keep a stone cold look on your face." He guided and Ruby followed what he said and sat with the posture he asked of her "Everyone 'round here were ordered to teach you the ropes, I don't know what you did to get on Esdeaths' good side but man does it bring some good perks."

Ruby slouched and sat back with a sigh "Jeez how do you do that all the time?"

"Ha! Your work hasn't even started yet, well not to worry luckily for you, you have an office, most of us use our offices to relax and cut loose a bit." He cheerily explained smiling at her

"I'm glad that I have an office then." Ruby happily said leaning back in her chair and began to relax before quickly panicking and leaning forward "I completely forgot to ask your name! I'm so sorry!"

"Think nothing of it, my names Sarah." he answered smiling strangely at Ruby

"Oh... that's a strange name for a... what?" Ruby blinked in surprise staring at the woman in front of her, she had short red hair, orange eyes, and dark skin

"Whats wrong? You seem confused, or lost? Little bit of both maybe." Sarah asked sarcastically as she unbuttoned her coat entirely and a large majority of the buttons on her undershirt almost exposing her chest "I got no idea how the guys wear such tight clothes, I've asked some of the chicks 'round here but they all say its easy if you wear a bra. But I'm not a big fan of coverin' my tits, What do you think?"

"I... wha?" Ruby was still trying to catch up

"You okay kid? You want me to go get the General so she can kiss it better or would you rather I do that?" Sarah asked seductively which was lost on Ruby who was slowly recovering from what happened

"No... I'm fine... you have a transformation semblance?" Ruby asked finally catching up

"Yep, I can change my body all I want. It made bullying me very difficult in primary school, they make fun of my height I make myself taller then them, I get made fun of for being too tall I make myself just taller then them... I was mainly focused on height but you get the picture." Sarah ranted as she rolled up her sleeves

"Yeah... that must have been nice, I got bullied for my cape when I was in Signal." Ruby added causing the woman across from her to smile

"I've always been big on makin' uniforms your own so if you ever wanna do somethin' to yours just ask, I've been dress coded for just about everything. I did wear a shoulder cape for a while but that became an issue when we were in Vacuo so I got rid of it." Sarah said resting her feet on Rubys' desk

"Neat, so are you one of the Majors around here?" Ruby asked trying to get more conversation

"Yeah, there are two more other than us, Sal and Falk. Their both good people but Sal can be a bit of an ass." Sarah answered as she stood "Alright I got some other things to do, give me a call sometime we'll have lunch."

"That'd be fun! See ya later." Ruby said waving as she left

"Hello Winter... nah we were just talking... oh please... fine, fine, I'm goin'." Sarah's voice came with only half the conversation, Entering the room Winter quickly looked over Ruby

"Good..." Winter quietly said before letting out a sigh and began to explain her actions to the extremely confused girl in front of her "I probably should have told you earlier but the thing about the Atlas Militär 4. Militärisches Protektorat, is its general staff apart from myself and General Esdeath are prisoners with life sentances, Sarah Rooihart is a criminal from Vacuo she was arrested for almost 46 counts of rape, 46 counts of statutory rape, equaling 92 counts of sexual assult. Geneal Esdeath took her in under the condition that after she served twenty two years she would be free to go, her time ended three years ago but she stuck around because as long as shes here and doing her job Esdeath will protect her, I dont know why but she does the same for all of her solders, just be careful with everyone from now on, okay?"

Ruby felt strange like she was talking with Yang but not "Okay... I didn't think she was... like that." Ruby said concern in her voice "I hope she leaves my team alone then..."

"You don't have to worry about that, she'll mainly be working with you, your team is in its own hot water though." Winter began to speak but her eyes flashed red each time she began to speak "Mas- M... M-M-Mas..." After a few seconds of attempting to speak and eye flashing she stopped trying to speak and paused for about a minute "I can't say her name but she has a similar track record to Sarah but tripled and with 9 counts of rebellion and almost 100 counts of murder, she was on death row when General Esdeath saved her life seeing better uses with her alive with the condition that her service period will end on her death."

"Why can't you say her name?" Ruby asked completely confused by what just happened

"Its nothing to worry about, after my incident the General forced her to wear a blindfold, just remember don't look into her eyes if you can help it." Winter said as she shuttered in fear

"Did you at least warn them?" Ruby asked standing Winter raised her hand and spoke

"Don't worry, right now the heads of all departments are in a meeting with General Esdeath your team is safe, we'll be having a meeting with them after Esdeaths' so they'll be fine." Winter waved off calmly causing Ruby to calm down as well and sit "Now then lets go over basic strategy and your logistical responsibilities." Ruby groaned and slammed her head on her desk

**(o)**

Yang looked at herself in the mirror, she was dressed like Winter... she really didn't like it, Weiss and Blake wanted to go explore the same looking corridors, in the same looking ship, with the same looking people, it made her furious Yang sat at one of the desks and banged her head on the table with a groan

"Ugh... I hate this." Yang lazily said to no one

"I know right?" A tired voice came from behind her causing Yang to blink in surprise and look around, looking to her bed she saw a paper white woman with short black hair and a blindfold on sitting on her bed

"Umm who are you?" Yang asked the woman as she turned around in her seat and looked over the woman

"Me? I'm Oberst William Faiaburando, I'm your leader, I only lead the specialists, but they are really good at what they do. I'm sure you will be good at it too." William explained tiredly as she looked at Yang

"Um... are you blind?" Yang asked walking over to her and quietly waving her hand in front of the woman's face

"Nah, but they are pretty gross to see, most people react so abhorrently towards them that I've been forced to cover them up, its a small price to pay if you ask me." William sadly said as she lied back and 'stared' at the ceiling

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm sure they cant be that bad." Yang waved off putting on her older sister routine and placed her hand on Williams shoulder pulling her to a sitting position

"They are though, even General Esdeath believes that, she was the one who ordered my to do so, but I still get to take this off every once in a while." William waved off causing Yang to scoff

"I'll be honest with you, I don't like that woman, Esdeath is just flaunting her power trying to get want she wants, shes like a spoiled little brat." Yang vented

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you but General Esdeath is our undisputed leader, and with good reason. She listens to our problems and acts accordingly, I may dislike my punishment but its necessary for me to remain in this army, and its better than the alternative." William explained reaching out towards Yangs' general direction but missed her

"Yeah but look at you! You can't fight like that and you're in charge of the specialists! From what I know you see the most action!" Yang ranted in rage as she guided Williams hand to her shoulder

"You are much too kind Yang, I'm very happy to know that you'll be serving me, I expect great things from you." William complemented as she stood slowly "I want to take this off now so I'll be heading back to my office, if you wish to tag along I wont stop you, its much nicer than these... bland rooms."

"I'd love that, but I have to meet with Winter and Esdeath soon." Yang said clearly upset to even think of her

"Don't worry 'bout that, the meeting room is still reserved for the majority of the evening so you still have a good three hours before you have to go to the meeting room." William explained calmly her tiredness fading away "Besides I don't get many visitors to my office so I'd be nice to show of my collection of cool stuff."

"Okay, I'll stick around for a while. It'd be nice to see some color for awhile." Yang said gratefully as they exited the barracks

**(o)**

Ruby sat staring at the sheets in front of her, her desk was almost completely covered in papers, Winter had explained what each of them were and where they had to be filed or placed but she was getting loaded down with so much work, her main question why did so much paper work go into running this ship, each of the department heads had constant request flowing downward and she had responses from the lower ranks flowing back upward for her approval, it was awful. After about ten minutes of work she heard a knock at the door

"Come in." Ruby said tiredly and the door opened and to her dismay it was Sarah

"Heya kid, hows work life treating ya?" She asked looking over each pile of paper and nodding

"Yeah..." Ruby said leaning away from her a bit, mainly out of disgust

"I'm assuming Winter told you 'bout my... exploits?" Sarah asked walking behind Ruby and placed her hands on her shoulders

"Yeah... she did..." Ruby answered calmly, having spent so much time with Esdeath she didn't feel fear

"Don't worry I'm not planing on railing you, but I do wanna do Esdeath. So I'll make you a deal, you let me switch places with you, I get an unforgettable night with Esdeath, you don't have to get whipped, what do ya say?" Sarah asked as she lightly massaged Ruby's shoulders

"You do know that if she finds out you're dead?" Ruby asked calmly as she used her Aura to listen to the woman's heartbeat it was slightly slower than her own

"Yeah but I can make a perfect copy of you." Sarah said walking out in front of Ruby it was like looking in a mirror the only difference being the clothes "See!"

Ruby was shocked to say the least the woman in front of her was her but it wasn't there were minor differences but she corrected those quickly

"How... did you-" Ruby began but was cut off by herself covering her mouth

"Don't worry about it, but I will say I'm now reconsidering doin' you too, you got a nice ass." the other Ruby said feeling herself up and down causing Ruby no end of discomfort "So whats your answer?"

"No, like I said if she finds out you're dead and I don't want to know what would happen to me." Ruby shot down again watching as her other self touched herself "And stop doing that!" Ruby shouted at her and began to blush

"Aw come on, it's rare that I find a form who's still pure." the other Ruby complained as she sat on Ruby's desk in front of her and smiled lustfully at her "I could show you how fun it can be... if you want."

"Please leave." Ruby asked herself, her disgust and embarrassment showing on her face

"Fine, but I'll be keepin' this form for a while, I like the feeling of being tight." The other her said as she got up and walked to the exit "But if you ever change your mind, I could drive you crazy." the other her added before exiting leaving Ruby to her embarrassment and disgust

**(o)**

Yang entered Williams office and looked around at everything true to her word everything was so much more colorful then the rest of the ship combined, there were records hanging on the walls, strange banners, and what looked like paint splotches across the walls in all different shades of color

"Woah this place is really nice." Yang complemented as she walked around the room as William sat at her desk

"Yeah, I try to collect things from all over the world, its really cool, like that over there is a geode from Vacuos largest dust mine, its extremely expensive." William said and pointed to a large rock in the corner of the room

"Whys that?" Yang asked looking at it, to her it just looked like a normal rock

"Because no one knows whats inside, could be earth dust, could be gravity, the point in its a gamble and tons of people are willing to pay for this hunk of probably nothing." William explained as she reached up to her blindfold

"I like that, you got a good head on..." Yang trailed off as she turned to William...

**A/N I just spent the rest of Wednesday rewriting this chapter because I felt it wasn't that great but now I think its _a lot_ better, I should mention I didn't like to upload on Fridays so I've decide to go back to Saturdays, lucky you guys you get two chapters in one week.**


	3. Kill the Team

**A/N I found writing the last chapter to be extremely fun and I really hope people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

Ruby lied her head on her desk feeling that it was comfortable enough to sleep on and that all the hard work she'd already done made for a good motivation to sleep there and now she slowly closed her eyes and quickly found sleep on top of many, many, _many, _different sheets of uncomfortable paper

**(o)**

Blake, Weiss, Winter, and Esdeath were currently sitting in a meeting room quietly waiting for the final member to arrive, she was currently a few minutes late but none were bothered by it, well none but Winter

"I apologize General, I'll go search for Yang if you wish." Winter offered clearly fearful for the girl and slightly irritated by her tardiness

"No need, I'm sure she'll have a good reason for being late, if not than you should worry." Esdeath waved off reading from her scroll

"Its not like Yang to be too late, but I thought we stamped that out with Akames' help." Weiss muttered to herself as Blake nodded in agreement

"Like I said don't worry about it yet. I cant help but feel that she'll have something interesting to say when she gets here." Esdeath waved off again, about seven minutes passed before the door opened and Yang walked in a strange smile on her face

"Sorry for the wait, I lost track of time while I was cleaning our bunks." Yang calmly droned sitting down next to Blake and looked to Esdeath who calmly watched her for a few moments

"Very well, I'll let it slide this once but should you fail for no serious reason again there will be consistences." Esdeath warned dangerously both Weiss and Blake began to fear Yangs' response to the blatant challenge

"Then I will accept it willingly, General." Yang submitted bowing her head to Esdeath causing everyone but Esdeath to look dumbstruck as to what happened to Yang. Weiss and Blake were clueless, but Winter was growing suspicious

"Good, now then the reason you're all here, you four can move around Beacon academy unabated, Ozpin will obviously be keeping very close watch on me but you four he will not, I don't believe he would suspect any of you three of serving me but thankfully Weiss and Winter are related so if he sees you two moving around together I doubt he'd bat an eye, so it places us in a unique position, he'll have his eyes on me, while you all have your eyes on him, now obviously we'll also be watching the criminal underground, Qrows' apartment, Akames' room at Beacon and your father Yang, I assume that's not an issue?" Esdeath explained passing around list of locations and points of interest

"Not a problem General." Yang obediently agreed bowing again

"Good, now then, the warships engines will be functional in..." Esdeath began but pulled out her scroll and checked the time "... ten hours, so you all should be able to get back to school before then if we send you in a manta, which is what will be happening. So go now and pack your things. Winter we have to talk some more." Esdeath said and WBY got up and exited the room leaving Winter and Esdeath alone

**(o)**

"Okay whats wrong with you Yang?" Weiss asked after the door shut

"Yeah, you're acting really strange." Blake joined looking at Yang suspiciously

"What are you guys talkin' about? You said that we should bide our time and wait so that's what I'm doin', she gets a high off me being disobedient than I'll do what I can to make her lose that high." Yang explained normally as she pulled both of them into a hug "Sorry if I spooked you with that."

"No its fine... a little warning woulda been nice at least." Blake forgave returning the gesture Weiss grumbled a bit about giving her a heart attack but returned the gesture

"Sweet, now then lets go pack our things and get Ruby and hopefully put this nightmare behind us." Yang happily said as they walked towards their barracks all feeling a strong sense of relief

**(o)**

"Ruby..." She felt a light shaking and her voice called she didn't want to move though "...wake up..." just a few more minutes of sleep is all she wanted then she'd be right as rain "I'll pour water on you if you don't..." she didn't care if she got water on herself... but she was at her desk... covered in paperwork...

"DONT! ALL THIS TOOK SO LONG TO DO!" Ruby shouted and jumped to her feet "I'M AWAKE!" looking at the people in front of her heart skipped a beat it was Yang, Blake, and Weiss, they were all dressed in their normal clothes

"Jeez sis, never thought you'd be the one to worry over paper." Yang said with a chuckle

"I'd be worried too-" Weiss began but was cut off by Yang "-Of course you would."

"I agree with Weiss, look at how much there is here." Blake added looking over Rubys' desk covered in all sorts of different sheets of paper

"Not all of it was filled out, some of it needs to go in transit and some needs to be filed away, all of this could have been done on the computer but I cant read anything on it so it had to be done all by hand. Anyways what are you guys doing here?" Ruby explained rapidly as she straightened the stacks of paper she knocked over then quickly pulled on her collar revealing her extremely reddened neck which no one noticed but her

"We're here to get you, Esdeath is sending us back ahead of the Warship 'cause its taking a while to repair." Weiss said causing Ruby to sigh in frustration

"I don't want to see my workload if I leave for too long." Ruby complained looking extremely exhausted already

"Don't worry 'bout it too much Ruby. Me, Sal, and Falk got the workload covered you just go and do your mission." Sarah still disguised as Ruby said from the door way looking over each of them but her eyes froze on Yang "Man I wish I met you sooner, I'm gonna be so pissed that I didn't get the chance to get properly introduced. But I'll love watching you leave."

"Ru-by?" Yang asked looking between the two of them in pure confusion

"Uggh, that's Sarah she can shape shift, apparently she likes my... body." Ruby explained in annoyance and embarrassment

"Yeah its great, this body was made for fighting, tits ain't too big to get in the way, ass ain't to big that it gets in the way neither, and best of all pure as a nun." Sarah explained happily but in very crude terms for all of them "Your body though... that was made for fun, that's the body of both a top _and_ bottom and I wouldn't mind being either for you." she added looking Yang up and down lust filling her gaze

"Yeah I'm not too big on hearing that come from my sisters' mouth." Yang coldly replied glaring at the woman who's eyes only grew more lustful

"Keep that look for a minute... I just want to memorize it for when I'm in bed later." Sarah said again lust dripping from her voice, causing Yangs' face to change to one of disgust

"I'm so sorry guys! Shes... shes really oblivious when it comes to _NOT_ being a creep!" Ruby hastily explained glaring at Sarah who laughed

"Jeez, take a joke, like I said I wont try anything on you, that goes for your division as well, see ya 'round kid. I'm gonna go... I don't know probably annoy the fuck outta Sal." Sarah say as she left them to gather their stuff and leave

**(o)**

Sitting in the manta team RWBY all looked to Esdeath who stood on the ramp of the ship and began to speak

"As you all know your job is to monitor all of Ozpins' movements and learn all you can on your fellow student body, but there's also a second objective that must be completed as well, the criminal underground must also be monitored, I'll have other agents acting towards that and you four are to help in every way you can, Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Team RWBY all confirmed and she smiled at all four of them letting her gaze pause on Ruby for a few moments

"Good, I expect success. Now go and bring me it." Esdeath ordered as she stepped out of the manta and waved for it to take off

**(o)**

Team RWBY sat quietly the mood of the manta had grown depressed

"We'll be there in about three minutes, so don't get too many Grimm on us." the pilot called back to them

"Don't worry!" Ruby called tiredly "I'm too tired to be depressed." causing her team to laugh a bit as she adjusted her collar

"Yeah, well keep it that way... please, I don't wanna let this ship get damaged too much. We don't get a lot of logistical support from Atlas, so we gotta make due with what we got." the pilot called back again

"No worries... I got some cute cat videos right here." Yang snarked and pulled out her scroll and opened it up to a... cute cat video "Oh wait... I actually do."

"Is that actually why you were late to the meeting?" Weiss asked looking from the video to Yang

"I have no comment." Yang answered putting her scroll away a small blush forming on her cheeks

**(o)**

An Atlas manta landed on the pad just below the second Atlas warship and out walked team RWBY, Ozpin was the first to greet them quickly rushing towards them he composed himself to the best of his ability

"I'm so glad you all are okay!" Ozpin happily said looking over each of them, their clothes were tattered but clean, each of them looked tired but Ruby looked like she hadn't slept in days and had a collar around her neck, but the most problematic thing for Ozpin was Akames' absences "Where is Akame? Why do you have a collar on? What happened?"

"I'll explain everything, you three go and settle in." Ruby ordered and the three of them complied "Can we talk in your office?"

"Of course. But I think you should rest first." Ozpin said but was clearly concerned for her health, Ruby reached up and pulled on her collar

"I can sleep later, but for now we need to talk." Ruby waved of as they began towards his office

"So what happened in that village?" Ozpin asked as they walked

"It was attacked by a massive horde of Grimm, we held them off for hours, none of us had any rest and they just kept coming, we protected as many as we could but there were still so many casualties." Ruby explained her tone completely neutral as they entered the elevator

"I had no idea, I'm sorry you all had to deal with that... most fully fledged huntsmen would have ran at those odds." Ozpin apologized and placed his hand on her shoulder which Ruby quickly removed

"Yeah..." Ruby grumbled looking even more tired

"I really think you should rest first, when was the last time you slept?" Ozpin asked his concern for her rising quickly

"It doesn't matter, you need to be caught up." Ruby clarified her intentions as the elevator stopped and opened, both of them exited into his office and took their seats and Ozpin spoke "So after the village battle what happened?"

"Esdeath arrived, Akame attacked her so did me and Yang, we were all defeated and imprisoned... now we're forced to serve her or spend our lives in prison, but Akame is free and Murasame can still be retrieved, now we wait, and hope that Akame can pull off the impossible." Ruby explained her tiredness growing with each word as did her desperation

"I am so sorry. If I had know-" Ozpin began but was cut off by Ruby

"Don't worry, with the locations of all the huntsman in Vale none of them would have been able to get there fast enough, we're just luck to all be alive." Ruby waved off his words

"But what about the collar? I don't quiet understand it." Ozpin asked folding his hands on his desk

"It shows that I belong to Esdeath... it's really tight too." Ruby droned the light in her eyes fading a bit

"I wont allow any of my students to be in such a situation." Ozpin growled fury burning in his eyes

"And what are you gonna do about it?" Ruby asked her own anger beginning to burn "All you do is sit up here in your ivory tower and watch."

Ozpin sat quietly for a few moments "I understand how difficult it is to be in your situation, but trust me when I say its harder to do nothing but watch." he then reached into his coat and pulled out his scroll pressed a few buttons and turned it towards her showing the contact to be Qrows'

[Qrow, I need you to return, don't come to the tower find Akame she'll inform you of everything you need to know.]

[Top priority?]

[Yes. Contact Raven if possible you'll need her.]

[Got it.]

"There, I've sent for Qrow, he's faced her before and this time he'll have Beacons support too, We'll help you." Ozpin explained confidently causing Ruby to smile sadly at him

"I'm sorry for being so rude or pessimistic, but it pointless, shes too strong." Ruby denied, clearly her mind was already suffering

"Don't worry about it, sometimes strength isn't the only tool needed to win, a tactful mind and strong heart are also needed for victory, now go rest you'll need your strength." Ozpin waved off but within he was trying to find some way to try and comfort the girl but failed as the look in her eyes told him that she wanted to say many things but she settled for shaking her head and looked away from him

**(o)**

Ruby left Ozpins' office and went back to her dorm found everyone else already asleep and joined them. Ruby woke up hours before dawn due to a lack of oxygen quickly sitting up she gasped for air as she pulled on the collar letting herself breath normally, tears began to flow from her eyes as she felt the leather of her prison, she didn't go back to sleep after that, because she knew if she did she would be strangled again...

**(o)**

Team RWBY went about their day as normal, dressed normally too, ate breakfast that wasn't meat, and went to first period, second period, third period, then lunch during lunch is when them and JNPR finally met up again

"Hey guys!" Jaune called out as JNPR walked up and sat down across from them

"Hi Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, how was your break?" Ruby asked blankly as she fiddled with her collar a bit, moments later Ruby's aura shattered and a small amount of blood started to run down her collar

"RUBY!" Yang gasped tried to touch the collar only for Ruby to stop her

"Don't." Ruby ordered covering the collar "It'll hurt regardless."

"Why don't you take it off then?" Pyrrha asked watching as Ruby drew her lightly bloodied hand away from her collar

"I cant, its frozen shut." Ruby answered as her eyes grew darker

"We've had a rough few days, especially Ruby and Akame." Weiss added holding out a cloth for Ruby's blood

"Oh! I wanted to ask where she was, I wanted to challenge her in sixth but I wanted to make sure she was willing." Pyrrha added calmly and clenched her fists

"You're gonna have you wait on that one, I don't think she'll be around for a while." Yang replied her tone was completely serious as she watched Ruby continue to fiddle with her collar

**(o)**

sixth period rolled around quickly but instead of Professor Goodwitch to greet them it was professor Ozpin which was extremely surprising due to him usually never interacting with students

Ozpin cleared his throat and began speaking "I hope that everyone is here because I'll only say this once; Professor Goodwitch has been going through some very... painful times, she is currently hospitalized and will remain so for an unforeseen amount of time, I hope you all will treat your substitute with the same amount of respect and obedience, though I doubt she would have much trouble in earning it."

Jaune raised his hand and Ozpin nodded and Jaune posed his question "Um, if we're getting a substitute than how will we conduct combat lessons? I thought subs weren't aloud to do that."

"That is under normal circumstances, but considering your substitute is in fact a general of the Atlas military I doubt there is anyone more qualified, that and the council has granted her permission to take charge of any class of her choosing should we need a substitute, her choice of class was also approved by Reichsmarschall Ironwood. Sadly my hands are tied in this matter, I was just here to inform you all of the alteration." Ozpin explained as he spoke Ruby's fear became visible to anyone around her, Yang wrapped her arm around her sister after noticing her fear bringing a small amount of comfort, after Ozpin finished speaking the doors to the room opened and Esdeath walked in, instantly all the students quieted down except for a few who whistled or made vulgar comments, Esdeath ignored them and walked up next to Ozpin then turned to the class and spoke

"I'm glad to have such a diverse group of..." Esdeath began but slowed to a stop when she saw Ruby "...Ruby..." Esdeath mumbled to herself

"Something wrong General Esdeath?" Ozpin asked stepping in front of her view of Ruby causing Esdeaths eyes to snap to him

"Its nothing... you can return to your many duties now. Thank you, Headmaster." Esdeath waved off causing Ozpin to lightly nod and walk to the door and exited

"Ruby Rose, come here." Esdeath ordered after the door shut, Ruby slowly complied and carefully walked forward and stood in front of her

"Yes... Ms. Esdeath?" Ruby asked fearfully of whats to come

"Why do you seem so... sad?" Esdeath asked placing her hand on Rubys' cheek

"Nothing." Ruby quietly answered trying to look anywhere but Esdeaths eyes

"Don't lie to me. Answer the question." Esdeath ordered causing Ruby to flinch a bit "Is... is it me?" Esdeath asked her voice suddenly sounding weak "Is it because of how I've treated you?"

"I... ye..." Ruby couldn't figure out how to answer, she couldn't figure out if she was too scare to answer or if she was too tired

"If you want, I can remove it." Esdeath asked as she absentmindedly drew I line along her throat

"Please!" Ruby yelped her eyes quickly snapped to Esdeaths eyes and quickly became teary

"Very well, under a single condition." Esdeath agreed calmly placing her hands on the collar

"What is it? Anything!" Ruby begged causing Esdeath to smile at the younger of the two

"'Anything' you say?" Esdeath asked sweetly causing Ruby's heart to drop "Agree to go on a date with me this weekend, and I'll remove your collar."

"Really? Are you being serious?" Ruby asked in complete disbelief of the simplicity of the request

"Of course, I just want you to be happy, if I had know that this thing has given you such issues I'd have gotten rid of it earlier." Esdeath answered as she unlocked Rubys' collar and returned it to her coat then touched her hand to Rubys' throat and suddenly everything fell unnaturally quiet for Ruby

_**I grant you my strength, I grant you my power, I grant you my experience, all I ask of you is your loyalty, do you accept?**_

Ruby blinked a few times as she felt her strength return but it kept growing, she felt her semblance return but it kept growing, she felt her movements grow less sluggish but continued to grow faster, and she felt her disdain for Esdeath quickly turn to fascination.

"Well?" Esdeath asked watching as Ruby's throat slowly healed

"Yes." Ruby answered completely focused on Esdeath, her eyes trapped on Esdeaths' and she stepped a bit closer to her only for Esdeath to stop her

"Save it for this weekend, I'll eagerly be awaiting it as well, but I feel that everyone else will feel that I will be showing favoritism." Esdeath said playfully as she pointed to the rest of the class who were watching the scene, Ruby began to blush and she pulled her hood up, quickly sat down, and curled up into a ball making herself as small as possible

"Now that that's out of the way, lets get down to work, first off Team CRDL step forward." Esdeath ordered putting her hands behind her back, Cardin got up and walked up to her "Oh... I was under the impression you were a group of four, I suppose they all died then?" Esdeath asked looking him over, his hair had grown messier and he had begun to grow a beard

"Yes ma'am." Cardin answered tiredly as he had a growing look of guilt on his face

"I see its begun to effect you too, pity, I doubt you'll last here any longer. Give up and leave." Esdeath ordered as she continued to watch him closely

"No, I wont run away anymore." Cardin denied staring her dead in the eyes causing her to smile then speak in a very condensing tone "Well look what we have here, Akames' touched your soul too hasn't she?"

"You could say that, she helped me when I was going to be killed, I owe her too much to run away now." Cardin agreed tiredly then continued to speak after a few moments of silence "I even asked for a transfer to her team, but it was denied because of how we've acted towards each other, until that changes I'll be stuck alone."

Esdeath placed her hand on his shoulder and spoke sweetly "If you think joining up with the strong will make you strong than you're an idiot. You'll only make yourself a burden. Strength can only be obtained through suffering and pain, something both me and Akame have experienced, and something you have yet to."

Cardin's eye twitched as fury began to burn in him and he clenched his fists trying to calm himself

"But then again what could I possibly know?" Esdeath asked her tone one of condescension "I'm just a general, I follow my orders and do what must be done, while you do... whatever it is you do here. Now I want you in the arena for the rest of class, I'll be sending teams down to fight you, now get a move on." Cardin looked like he wanted to say something but instead growled at her and stormed away, after he left Esdeath turned back to the class and called out again "Now then, we'll be going from weakest team to strongest team... but considering all the others in here are transfer students there aren't many to go through until they've all been added to the system." Esdeath began to speak but Ruby wasn't paying attention she was too focused on her new found strength, she couldn't help but want to test it, she felt like she had the strength of three Goliath, and she had so much more control over her body then she used to, there was no delay in her actions anymore, it was such a strange feeling being able to move so smoothly, it was intoxicating to say the least, she felt like she could take down the horde they ran into a few days ago all on her own, but something felt very off, she thought she could hear something but it was too quiet to make out what it was

"Hey Ruby, you doin' okay?" Weiss asked as she shook Ruby a bit

"I'm fine, just... feeling a little... light?" Ruby waved off watching as she opened and closed her fist

"Really because you've been sitting here doing that for the past few minutes." Weiss added placing her hand on top of Ruby's stopping her from opening it

"I feel... too strong." Ruby said her voice still distracted "I feel... weird."

"I'm sure its nothing, that collar was a huge burden on you so I guess you're just getting used to having it off again." Weiss waved off with a smile

"Team RWBY you're in, Cardin is beginning to get a bit fumed I'd say." Esdeath called out causing all of team RWBY to stand and look into the arena, Cardin was standing in the center clad in black leather armor with an assortment of different swords of varying lengths on him, he was holding a long sword in his hands as he waited, Esdeath watched him for a few moments before speaking again "Actually, no not all of you, just Ruby."

"What?! Why just one?" Cardin called out clearly pissed by the 'lack' of challenge

"Because Ruby will defeat you." Esdeath explained and drew her own blade, a long rapier and flipped the blade and held it out to Ruby who walked up near her "Use this, I want to see how quickly you can adapt to a new weapon in combat." Esdeath explained as Ruby grabbed the hilt she felt cold, it wasn't a part of Esdeath, it was a tool, not that she needed a weapon, it was just another reminder that she was just toying with everyone around her, pulling the blade away from Esdeath she felt that the tool in her hands could be considered the perfect weapon, it wasn't too light and it wasn't too heavy, it wasn't too short and it was perfectly balanced, she though of ways to use it as she walked away into the changing room

**(o)**

Ruby walked out into the arena in her combat outfit, Cardin was waiting she smiled at him, he grinned back at her

"I hope you're prepared, just cause Esdeaths got a soft spot for ya doesn't me I'll go easy on you." Cardin growled pointing the long sword at her his stance was practiced but new, she didn't know how she knew this but she did, she also could see all his weak points and she knew just how to exploit them, it wasn't going to be a fight it was going to be a slaughter.

"Don't worry, I wont be going easy on you either." Ruby replied pointing the blade at Cardin her smile changing from a genuine kind smile to a sadistic one

**A/N Ruby vs Cardin... Yeah there might be a few more things that Esdeaths semblance does that she didn't mention, but now things are beginning to get interesting, who knows that could happen next... cause I don't...**


	4. Kill the Search

**A/N Here we go again, battle... not a lot but it gets me where I need to get.**

Esdeath watched with genuine happiness as Ruby dodged every attack thrown at her, With each attack thrown by Cardin she would chip away lightly at his Aura, Ruby was preforming just as Esdeath would have, Cardin swung horizontally at Ruby who ducked under the attack causing Esdeath to gasp in cover her heart wasn't the dodge what made Esdeaths' heart skip was the quiet chuckling she heard from the girl, clearly Cardin heard it too as he quickly dived away from her slightly spooked by the act, but thanks to the length of her blade Ruby still caught him completely exposed as the blade tore his Aura and sent him sprawled, Ruby didn't try to hide her laughter this time as she stood tall and watched Cardin struggle to try and get up

"Whats wrong? I thought you'd be challenging." Ruby taunted her eyes burning with playful delight as he forced himself to stand and drew a knife into his left hand, Ruby grinned at that and taunted again "Are you sure you can use that thing? 'Cause from what I can see you can barely use a sword." he rushed her again and attacked, she began to laugh again as she easy batted away his attacks without moving from the spot she was standing

**(o)**

Blake looked over to Yang who had a very concerned look on her face

"Does she act like that a lot? Or does she only act like that to people she doesn't like?" Blake asked looking back to Ruby who quickly disarmed Cardin and slammed her fist into his face breaking his aura and sending him flying into the wall

"No, shes never taunted anyone, and she shouldn't even be able to do that, I can barely send someone into a wall even if I have my semblance activated." Yang responded fearful of her sister

**(o)**

Ruby stood in front of Cardin staring him dead in the eyes as she raised the blade again to attack, but after a few seconds she began to hear the voice again but this time it was extremely loud, _**BREAK- **_It kept growing _**COMMIT-**_ louder, she _**REND-**_ cou-_**STEAL **_barely thin-_**KILL, SEVER, ERASE, PERISH, DEGRADE, HARMKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARMBREAKCOMMITRENDSTEALKILLSEVERERASEPERISHDEGRADEHARM**_

_**(o)**_

Ruby fell to her knees and dropped the blade and began to scream holding the sides of her head, she started to cry uncontrollably as she shook back and forth, and began to hit the sides of her head as she screamed

"STOP! STOP! MAKE IT STOP!" Ruby cried out as she held her eyes shut trying to keep what little sanity she thought she still had, Esdeath dropped into the arena and walked over to Ruby as Yang, Blake, and Weiss ran up near her

Esdeath kneeled next to Ruby pulled her into a hug and whispered "You are stronger than than that voice, prove to me that you are... please..." Ruby continued to scream though it was closer to sobbing now as she clung to Esdeath, Yang was rubbing Rubys back trying to comfort her sister, Esdeath then spoke again "Show it that you wont be the puppet but the puppeteer, show it that you're in control, and show it that you are the master of your fate, not it." Ruby's crying slowly started to die down until it was just quiet sobs, slowly ruby opened her eyes and looked around seeing Esdeath holding her, Yang, Weiss, and Blake, all standing around them

"What did I do?" Ruby asked shakily tears still in her eyes as she clung even tighter to Esdeath

"What do you mean?" Yang asked looking very concerned as Ruby lied her head on Esdeaths chest and closed her eyes

"It seems that she had a bit of a hard time getting it under control, but unlike those before her who tried she is still sane." Esdeath commented as she picked her up "Yang, grab Cardin we're taking them to the infirmary." Esdeath ordered "Then I'll answer your questions on this event."

Yang had a skeptical look on her face but nodded and pulled Cardin from the wall and hoisted him over her shoulder "Thanks in advanced then."

"Weiss, Blake, you two are in charge in our absence... have fun with that." Esdeath ordered as she and Yang exited the room

**(o)**

Yang and Esdeath sat watching Ruby sleep, Esdeath was petting Ruby while Yang was watching Ruby's face for any movement, Esdeath sighed and placed her hand on Rubys'.

"So I'd bet you're wondering why Ruby became so powerful in an instant." Esdeath asked as she watched Ruby sleep

"I'm more concerned about why she started laughing like a maniac then started screaming." Yang snarked as she turned her attention to Esdeath

"As I told Ruby my semblance restores a persons stamina, but that's not all it does... the name I have for it is 'Former Glory' but everyone else has taken to calling it 'Glory'." Esdeath explained causing Yang confusion

"What does that even mean?" Yang asked trying to figure out what that meant but all she could do was get a general idea

"Thanks to my death I wasn't allowed to keep my body, I was reincarnated. I grew up in Atlas, with a mother and father who tried to get me to want for nothing, they wanted me to be lazy and spoiled like the rest of the Atlas elite, so I spent my childhood weak, then spent my teenage years in Atlas academy. Unlike my original childhood of living alone in the unforgiving wilds of the Empire." Esdeath explained as she turned her attention back to Ruby

"So what does that have to do with any of this?" Yang asked as she stared blankly at Esdeath who sighed

"My semblance boosts my body to the strength I had before the final battle in the capital, when I use it, I get my strength back. When I use it on others they get that same strength, but they also get my psyche." Esdeath replied as she continued to watch over Ruby

"Then what is wrong with you?" Yang asked after a few minutes of quiet, Esdeath looked to her like she was an idiot

"Nothing." Esdeath answered like it was obvious then continued in a far more serious tone "Everyone who had Former Glory activated on them also get the effects of my blood which was mixed with Demon's Extract, that is what you saw."

"So you used Ruby like a guinea pig?" Yang asked her eyes turning red and her hair sparking

"No, she survived both mentally and physically, it proves empirically that she is truly my love. The one who I share my soul with." Esdeath explained as though it were simple

"'Share your soul with.'?" Yang quoted glaring at the Esdeath who looked at her and smiled

"Yes, when my semblance activates its sharing _everything_ I am with another, not just skill or strength, but mind and heart, the only differences that truly occurs, is personality, thoughts, intent... but all of which are linked between the two of us, our souls are one and the same. Well that and this." Esdeath explained before closing her eyes and her Aura began to to shimmer brightly like waves of water in shades of red and blue but primarily blue with a few quick glints of purple, Ruby began to do the same but primarily red, Esdeath then spoke again "We are one in the same, more or less. One of us can now take two hits from Murasame before it becomes fatal."

Yang jaw dropped "So you _are_ just using her! You bitch!" Yangs eyes turned red and she lunged at Esdeath who disappeared into a cloud of blue Rose petals and reappeared behind Yang and placed a blade on her neck

Esdeaths smile widened as she whispered in Yangs ear "Ah... this semblance is useful... but to correct you; no I'm not using Ruby, I gave her my power too, Demon's Extract is hers to use as she sees fit, and given enough practice and effort she can become just as proficient as I am with it. I am hers heart and soul, and she is mine heart and soul. As I said 'we are one and the same.'"

**(o)**

hours had passed since Blake and Weiss saw Ruby or Yang and they were beginning to get concerned given the current company of the two

"Weiss, I'm going to the city to try and find Akame." Blake said after a few minutes of quiet reading

"Why the city? I'd assume the Emerald Forest would be the first place to search." Weiss asked looking from her classwork "Besides the city is filled with solders it seems way too dangerous for her to be there, considering their all on lookout for her."

"That's why shes probably there, don't worry if I find her I'll tell you." Blake replied as she opened the door

"Alright, while you do that I'll search her room and try and find any information on where she's hiding out... just one thing I want to know first, do we find her ourselves... or do we... follow orders?" Weiss spoke clearly her feelings towards siding with Atlas were weaker in comparison to her team

"We'll discuss it as a team later, so for now if you find anything keep it away from me and I'll do the same, that seems like a better idea." Blake said after a few minutes of debate then exited the room leaving Weiss to her work and mission

**(o)**

After a few minutes of class work Weiss entered Akames' room and looked around, nothing was changed other than the large stack of notebooks on the desk, walking over to them Weiss opened the first one and began to read

{_Team RWBY consists of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao-Long. Ruby Rose, has a hard time keeping up in CQC her combat focuses mainly on using her weapon for mobility best elimination technique is using her speed to decapitate her foe but uses it only on Grimm which limits her abilities in human combat, if she should become an enemy an enclosed space would be the best way to eliminate her with little to no difficulty._} Weiss started at the page in disbelief she couldn't tell if Akame did this out of habit or as a precautionary measure both of which made her scared if this was truly how Akames' mind worked, regardless she continued reading

{_Yang Xiao-Long, hotheaded and strong, easily put off balance if the right words are said, strong in close range but falls short against opponents that kick and has no follow ups to her own, the best way to eliminate her would to attack her with kicks and when she attempts to do the same use her openings to eliminate. Blake Belladonna, calm and collected, her skill and seasoned nature in combat would make her formidable but her will is weak, all I need to do is release my killing intent at its fullest and that should earn me a window to end her. Weiss Schnee, easy to anger and even easier to off balance, she is simple to defeat as well, the only issue would be her semblance but that's only if she can get it off._} Weiss couldn't understand why Akame would keep such a book, it was full of similar information on others she had interacted with such as Ozpin, Glynda, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, and Cardin, there were entries on others but to a lesser extents all including the best ways to defeat them or in Akames' case different was to kill

**(o)**

Ruby slowly opened her eyes and reached for her neck and felting nothing choking her

"Don't worry its gone." Esdeaths voice came from her left, looking over she saw Esdeath herself sitting next to and watching her

"What... what did I do?" Ruby asked her voice shaking in fear as her memories returned

"You didn't kill Cardin, but you now have shown off that you have a will as strong as my own. I'll explain everything that I told Yang..." Esdeath answered, she then spent her time telling and teaching Ruby everything about her semblance and her perspective on what happened in combat class

**(o)**

Blake walked from the docks, to the industrially district, to the slums, to the warehouses, to the rich district, to the trash heaps, and finally to the commercial district, she couldn't find any trace of Akame, no one had seen her but she had seen Atlas solders walking around posting wanted posters for her all over the place too, to the point that it began to make her fear that Akame would never be able to live a normal life around here, Blake entered the library, sat down at a table and slammed her head into it

"Where could she possibly be..." Blake asked herself as she stared at nothing "I know I'm not over thinking this... she has to be here... but where?"

after a few moments of thought a gruff voice came from behind her "I'm sure she's fine, you're lookin' in all the right places but you doin' one wrong thing. So next time you go lookin' think 'bout travelin' lighter." quickly turning around Blake saw a man in black slacks, a white button up, and a tattered red cape, his hair was graying and he had slight stubble on his jawline, his eyes were a faded red color

"Who are-" Blake began but her mouth was covered by his hand

"None of those, I'm just here to tell ya not to worry... and to not be so easy to follow... by either of us." the man explained as he reached into her pocket and pulled our her scroll and lied it on the table then gestured for her to follow him, they walked into a back corner of the room

the man looked around real quick then leaned in and whispered "A huge battle is coming, make sure you're all prepared for whats to come, regardless of which side you choose to fight on, ours or hers... just make sure you make the right choice, for you and your friends."

"Who are you?" Blake asked him he sighed

"I told you none of that, now then they should be stormin' into this place lookin' for me any minute now so I'll make myself scares. Remember what I told you, look out for yourself first then others, cause when what goes down, goes down... there will be no taking it back, so think hard on this one." the man explained before he began walking away down a random aisle, Blake quickly chased after him but he wasn't there, walking out of the aisle she looked around and she was alone

"Blake?" a woman's voice came from behind her, turning around she saw a woman a little shorter than Ruby with paper white skin, short black hair, and wearing a blindfold

"Yes... um do I know you?" Blake asked placing her hand on Gambol Shroud

"Oh yeah... we didn't get a chance to meet. I'm Oberst William Faiaburando, its nice to meet you, Yang only had good things to say about you. But I have to say I didn't expect you to be a faunus... I like that." William commented as she looked Blake up and down

"Um... thank you?... ma'am!" Blake slowly processed before snapping into a salute

"Don't worry 'bout that out here, out here were strangers... but I will say I think you're cute too." William waved off before her voice became one of suspicion "But tell me one thing, we got a report that a wanted criminal was around here, do you know anything about that?"

"No... not that I know of." Blake replied as William reached up and pulled down her blindfold

"Are you sure?" William asked again as Blake looked into her eyes

**(o)**

Ruby and Esdeath walked down the dorm room hallway, Ruby spent this time to tell Esdeath about her team and JNPR as well as her school schedule and her weapon which intrigued Esdeath she wasn't used to naming things, even her pets that were actual animals she didn't name

"So what is the purpose of naming your weapon? Does it increase your proficiency with it?" Esdeath asked as they walked down the hallway towards RWBY's dorm

"No, but it builds a connection between you and your weapon, it kinda makes it apart of you. My Scythe is named Crescent Rose, Uncle Qrows' is called Harbinger, Blakes' sword is called Gambol Shroud, Weiss' is called Myrtenaster, Yangs is called Ember Celica, and so forth." Ruby explained happily as she pulled Crescent Rose off her belt and lightly pet it "Its kind of an obsession of mine."

"Hmm... but what purpose does it serve?" Esdeath asked again as they walked

"Well... I guess I don't really know, Uncle Qrow can explain it better than I can... but I guess you two aren't on speaking terms." Ruby surrendered as they stopped in front of her dorm

"Considering the last time we saw each other he and his sister were cutting me to pieces, no we're not on speaking terms... yet." Esdeath replied coldly with a sadistic grin, strangely enough Ruby was slightly interested by the look on her face, usually she would be disgusted and look at anything else but right now it was all she could think of

after a few seconds Ruby shook her head and quickly spoke slowly growing more and more confused "Well! Here we are! My dor- Our dorm... my dorm? Their not here so I guess its my dorm... how did I know they aren't here? Did you know their not here?"

"Yes, that's what you got from me, but I also knew there's a single person next door. Who's dorm is that?" Esdeath spoke pointing to Akames' dorm

"That's... no ones room... no one at all... nothing to worry about." Ruby tried to cover up stepping in front of Esdeaths view but had to stand on her toes to try and get in front of her view

"Well then, if it no ones room than we should make sure no foul play is going down in there. Right?" Esdeath shot down as she stepped forward and pushed Ruby out of her way and grabbed the door handle

"I mean your instincts _could_ be wrong! Right?" Ruby tried again as she grabbed the handle too

"possibly, but I doubt it." Esdeath shot down again and pushed the door open knocking Ruby over in the process. Entering the room Esdeath looked around and saw no one but there was a notebook lying on the ground and many more on the desk wide open

Ruby opened her eyes and saw Weiss hanging from the ceiling her hands and feet frozen to it, they locked eyes Weiss lifted a single finger to her mouth and Ruby nodded lightly

"See... no one is here!" Ruby said as she stood and looked to Esdeath who slowly nodded

"Weiss you can come down from the ceiling." Esdeath ordered as she picked up the notebook, she didn't even look up "I can smell your perfume, the ice, and your fear. So get down here, now." Weiss and Ruby stared at Esdeath both with shocked expressions on their faces Esdeath looked to Ruby then spoke "What's so shocking? You knew that I could sense someone was in here, just because Weiss hid on the ceiling doesn't mean that would change." Esdeath explained as Weiss fell from the ceiling landing on her feet "So tell me who's room is this?" Esdeath asked her voice commanding Weiss to speak

"Its Akames' room, I was just... searching for clues on her whereabouts." Weiss explained quickly just as Ruby was about to signal for her to not

"Oh is it! How interesting." Esdeath snarked as she glared at Ruby who shrank away from her

"Ruby isn't at fault here! Don't-" Weiss began to defend but found it hard to speak thanks to ice freezing her mouth shut

"She lied to me, there's no excuses you can come up with to change that, she'll be punished accordingly." Esdeath growled causing both Weiss and Ruby to coward from her "Ruby you will be handling all my paperwork as well for the next three days, you chose to lie to me like Qrow so you'll get punished like Qrow."

Ruby didn't know how to react but she knew she was probably going to cry a lot later, she couldn't figure out how Esdeath could be so cruel

**(o)**

Yang had taken to wandering around Beacon trying to make sense of her life, it was normal up until Akame had entered it now nothing made sense anymore; good, evil, right, wrong, none of it has any meaning anymore now everything was how strong or how smart you were just because you're good doesn't mean you're right, and just because you're right doesn't mean you're good, its completely pointless to tag people as good or evil now, Yangs' thoughts were interrupted when she bumped into someone

"Oh sorry..." Yang apologized as she looked at the person she bumped identifying them as Winter

"Its alright, I was actually looking for you, we need to talk." Winter waved off as she brushed off her shoulder "Besides I had something on my mind too."

**(o)**

Yang and Winter entered the city quietly mainly due to the fact that they held nothing in common so they had nothing to talk about, Winter guided Yang to a small restaurant

"I don't really know what kinds of food you like so I suppose this place will do." Winter said as she pulled the door open

"I'm not picky, 'sides this place is pretty pricey so I'd expect it to be good. Most people who come here say its really high quality." Yang waved off as she entered the small restaurant

"This is quality?" Winter quietly asked herself as they entered

"Yeah, sure its not fancy or _super_ expensive but it has heart, and that's what makes it good." Yang explained after she gestured for Winter to follow her

"You heard that!?" Winter asked surprised that Yang could hear her over the noise of the restaurant

"Yeah, Akame taught us how to have selective hearing out there, she was really big on getting us prepared for almost anything. Even me and I hated her." Yang explained regret cropping up in her voice

"You... hated her?" Winter asked surprise in her own

"We stopped the robbery on the docks..." Yang began to explain her voice was heavier than normal and she looked distracted as she quieted down

"You... you... you what?" Winter asked pure shock and horror on her face

"We stopped the robbery at the docks, and Akame killed a few people that kinda set me off." Yang repeated as she opened one of the menus she grabbed when they entered

"The attack on the SDC shipments that came in roughly eight hours earlier?" Winter asked her tone unchanged from before

"Yeah, what's the big deal? We didn't see anything on the news about it so we figured it was ignored." Yang asked clearly confused by Winters fear

"There were no survivors, all the bodies had shallow cuts except two one had a stab wound and the others throat was cut... that was you all?" Winter explained causing Yangs jaw to drop

"What?... We didn't kill anyone... Akame..." Yang defended as she slowly pieced together what happened, her own eyes widening in fear "How many? How many died?"

"thirty-nine." Winter answered quietly causing Yang to lean back in her seat a horrified look on her face

"That... bitch... she..." Yang growled as she clenched fists, her eyes turned red and her hair caught fire

"Yang calm down, we came here to talk about a completely different issue." Winter calmed as she placed her hand on Yangs' fist causing her to calm a bit

"Hi, I'm Wit Adder, I'll be your server today. I'm guessing you two are huntsman? Or are you solders." a young girl said she had short white hair with a short braid, pale skin, purple eyes, and was rather buff look but she had a beautiful and gentle smile that Yang couldn't look away from

"I'm a huntsmen-in-training, she's a solder. You guessed it at a glance do many come in here?" Yang asked as she smiled back at her

"Nah, but we did have a pair come in her about three weeks ago. They were strange, so they kinda made an impression." Wit waved off as she ran her hand through her hair

"Really? How so?" Winter asked also seeming entranced by Wit

"a man and a woman. I think they were related, both had red eyes and black hair and had meat for breakfast... and the man had a cape that looked like it went through hell and back." Wit explained as she stared off into the distance for a few seconds before mumbling again "They seemed... familiar..."

"I believe Yang might know who you're talking about. Right Yang?" Winter said as she looked to her

"Yeah... their dangerous... watch yourself." Yang growled her eye twitching a few times

"Ha! I think you're in that same boat." Wit laughed out causing both Yang and Winter surprise "A hot head like you seems like you're also in the dangerous boat... probably burning it." Wit joked as Yang blinked in surprise "Alrighty I'll go get your drinks now... after... I get the orders from you..." Wit slowly said turning back to them looking rather embarrassed

"Oh! I'll have water." Winter ordered feeling that they should have already done this

"I'll have a glass of milk... so I can grow big and strong." Yang sarcastically ordered after Winter gestured for her to speak

"Alrighty then." Wit said as she writ down the orders "I'll be right back." Wit then walked away leaving them alone

Winter watched her leave quietly then turned her attention to yang again "Now then lets get back to what I wanted to talk to you about... chiefly your Oberst..."

**A/N I am leaving on so many cliffhangers I really hated that when I was a reader but now that I've begun writing each time I do leave a cliffhanger I know its cause I have no idea what the hell I wanna do next so I just gate it off so I have almost two weeks to figure something out, just a little insider information for ya... as frustrating as that information is. I should mention I have been intentionally avoiding giving out too much information on Akame and Qrows' movements and Qrows' words do still stand 'when what goes down, goes down... there will be no taking it back' things are going to take a turn from cannon... and all of this was on accident... so you know I kinda need to buy the time.**


	5. Kill the Mind

**A/N I hope everyone enjoyed the last chapter, I enjoyed writing it, but now's the time to read.**

Yang and Winter stared at each other in silence neither said a word, Yang was rather confused by Winters statement, what did she want to know about her, Yang had assumed that Winter knew more about her

"I don't know what I could tell you 'bout her, but sure. What do you wanna know." Yang said after a few moments of thought

"I want to hear you say her name, it will tell me everything I want to know." Winter explained as she stared Yang dead in the eyes

"Why would you want me to say her name?" Yang avoided quietly she looked a little self conscious about the question too

"Why would you avoid saying it?" Winter countered calmly as she leaned forwards and looked Yang dead in the eyes

"I just want to know why." Yang explained staring at anything but Winter who kept staring at Yang

"Say it, please. I want to try and help you." Winter continued calmly as she placed her hand on Yangs, after a few moments Yang looked at Winter then looked down at the table

Yang sighed before she could speak she seized up and a few red sparks ignited in her pupil "Master wants to know how you figured it out." Yang spoke her voice and posture both dropping into a tired slump

"Damn it... I guess Ruby was right, I should have warned you all about her and to answer your question I had a hunch." Winter muttered to herself, clearly she was disgusted by what happened to Yang, after a few moments of frustrated silence Winter spoke an order "Return Yang, now." Yang rolled her eyes and spoke her voice doubling with another as she did so "You're no fun. I liked you better when I was in control." then the sparks vanished from her eyes and she returned to normal

"What happened?" Yang asked as she looked around at everything around them, Winter was the most out of sorts thing Yang saw, given her skin was paler than normal and she looked like she was on the verge of tears "Are you okay? What happened?"

Winter growled and slammed her fist into the table "Damn it all... I feel so useless."

Yangs confused look didn't change so she repeated the question "Winter, what happened?"

Winter spoke after calming herself "We; you and I, are stuck in a situation that I'd rather neither of us be in, your Oberst has a _very_ powerful semblance, one which doesn't work on General Esdeath I don't know why, but that's the only reason why she was allowed to keep her in her army under obvious restrictions, her semblance is a form of mind control, all she has to do is look into a persons eyes and activated it, as long as they are within ten meters of her they will become subservient to her on activation then she can exert her influence over them the farther away the more strain on her Aura. I didn't know when I first got transferred to this army and after our meeting with the general I was planing on telling you all about it... I failed you, I'm so sorry."

"That's absolutely crazy, Ma-" Yang began to say but her mouth was covered by Winters hand

"Say the beginning of her name slowly, but listen to what you actually say." Winter instructed as she took her hand away

Yang nodded and began to say William "Mas... Mast... what the fuck?" it was nauseating, in her mind she heard 'William' but her mouth wasn't listening to her, it was listening to something or someone else

"I understand the shock you're having, and right now it will be its worst. Neither you nor I can get too close to her or it will automatically take over, she can also force herself into your mind or even break it if she wanted to, it's a chain on us but if someone were to cut out her eyes she wouldn't be able to use her semblance on us or anyone else that's why the General has her wear that blindfold it makes people think shes blind so they wont take her too seriously, but remember this; she raped and enslaved almost four towns and tried to overthrow the Atlas government with her army of slaves, it failed, but the way we dealt with it was met with massive backlash from Mantle, mainly because we killed so many 'civilians' but we couldn't let her get into the city if we did..." Winter explained with a shutter of fear before continuing her explanation "Lets just say it wouldn't have boded well for the world, after the General defeated her and forced the blindfold on her she realized that control over her was as easy as covering her eyes so she chose to add her to her army, it took an entire council vote to get Reichsmarschall Ironwood to agree to allow General Esdeath to keep her in her army." Winter explained a few moments later Wit returned bringing them their drinks

**(o)**

Ruby sat in Esdeath office a mountain of paperwork in the large desk in front of her, her wrist was throbbing in pain and the work load didn't seem to get any smaller as she continued to work, Esdeath was sitting in the chair across from Ruby reading from her scroll

"Can I stop now? I've been working for hours!" Ruby whined as she lied her head on the desk

"You've been working for one hour and forty-five minutes, that's not hours, and it wouldn't be a punishment if I just let you off the hook so easily" Esdeath calmly replied causing Ruby to groan and pretend to sob

**(o)**

Weiss sat in their dorm staring at the notebooks she got from Akames' room everyone needed to see these everyone needed to know, but she still couldn't figure out why Akame would write those and leave them in the open, its too convenient but she couldn't just wave it off and not tell anyone, they had to decide as a team where they stood and who their enemies would be, a knock at the door drew her attention from the books

"Come in." Weiss said as she closed one of the notebooks, the door opened and Pyrrha walked in

"Hello Weiss, I wanted come and see you guys I though I hear Rubys' voice a little while ago, where is she?" Pyrrha politely asked as she entered

"She lied to Esdeath so now shes spending the next few days doing paperwork for her... it's really not that bad of a punishment, but shes stuck with Esdeath..." Weiss answered as she stood up from her desk

"What are those for?" Pyrrha asked pointing to the pile of notebooks

"Those are Akames' she wants us to hold onto them while shes out." Weiss lied calmly as she began to exit the room "Come on, lets walk. I've been cooped up in here too long." Pyrrha complied and quickly followed after her. Walking outside of the room Weiss shut the door and locked it then began to walk down the hallway towards the exit, Pyrrha quickly followed her outside and along the stone path leading away from the dorms

"Tell me Pyrrha, whats your opinion on the Atlas occupation?" Weiss asked as they walked

"What do you mean? Occupation implies that the army has taken control of the city, that's not the case." Pyrrha asked trying to get a bit more information on what Weiss meant

"Pyrrha, you're not an idiot, look around you, look at the city. They are treating this like an occupation and I know Esdeath is doing so as well." Weiss ranted slightly irritated by the ignorance displayed by her peer

"How do you know what the general is treating this like? If they are treating this like an occupation then why isn't the council doing something about it then?" Pyrrha asked quietly trying to not sound like shes crazy

Weiss stopped and began to think of what she was going to say "As you know we, my team and I, were brought back by Esdeath and her army, we were out there with Akame, where do you think she is right now? Imprisoned? Dead? Left for dead in the wilds to be eaten by Grimm? What do you think?"

"She was... I have no idea which, but why would any of those options cross your mind?" Pyrrha asked back turning the question again, talking like this would get them nowhere fast

"I also don't know, if I had to say Esdeath probably threw her out of her ship when we weren't around. She seemed really cautious around Akame, she didn't even let her come to the meeting she had with us." Weiss said as they walked along the path "Pyrrha, I'm warning you because I'm your friend, be very _very _careful around anyone in the Atlas military, be careful about what you say and what you do."

"I'll keep that in mind, with how the General conducted combat class I'd feel bad for anyone who got on her bad side, luckily for Cardin transfer students cant participate in combat class yet." Pyrrha replied with an annoyed tone

"Yeah... oh yeah! His whole outfit and weapons changed, any idea why?" Weiss asked as they stopped walking

"After Akame saved him, apparently he didn't trust his mace after that, so he came to me and Jaune to try and find out how to fight with a sword, and better ideas on armor." Pyrrha explained as she adjusted her school jacket

"Do you mind if we spar for a bit? I need something to get my mind off of this... hell." Weiss asked a few moments after their conversation died

**(o)**

Ruby had finally finished the final piece of paper needed to be filled out, with how long it took she could have believed that the day had already passed the only reason she didn't think that was Esdeath who stood and spoke

"Well done, you completed this entire day of paperwork... five minutes faster than me." Esdeath complemented as she stretched a bit

"Really!? I thought I would have been way slower." Ruby said surprise in her voice as she spoke

"Yeah, I've always hated bureaucracy so its a chore more than anything else so it takes a while, plus I get distracted quiet a bit I'm sure it has something to do with Scrolls but after such a long time with one I can't really imagine my life without one." Esdeath explained as they exited the room and began towards the hanger

"General! You have a call!" a specialist called as he jogged over to her

"From who?" Esdeath asked as the man held out a different scroll to her

"Your mother again." he answered as Esdeath took the scroll with a sigh

"Thank you, you're dismissed." Esdeath thanked and he took off again as she held it to her ear, Ruby watched in fascination, Esdeath had a strange look on her face but it quickly vanished as she spoke

"Hello mother... yes... no I have no intention of quitting anytime soon... we've talked about this... I don't care what father wants, he made his choice I made mine... I know that... Ruby Rose what does it matter?... so what she is old enough to make her own choices..." Ruby couldn't quiet catch the whole conversation but she was surprised by how rocky it sounded, after a few moments of quiet the conversation continued "You're what?... you don't have to-... fine... just be very careful I have many enemies around here... I didn't kidnap her... love you too." Esdeath took the scroll from her ear and growled

"Dammit all." she quietly said as she pocketed the scroll

"What was that about?" Ruby asked her interest growing in Esdeath conversation

Esdeath sighed before she spoke in what sounded like an awkward tone "My parents are coming for the Vytal festival, and they want to meet you."

Ruby began to blush trying to not sound embarrassed "Oh..."

"Don't worry about it too much they just want to meet you, and try and figure out why we're together." Esdeath waved off as they began to walk towards the hanger with Esdeath Manta in it after entering it Esdeath spoke again "My father was a General der Panzertruppe, or Lieutenant General of the Panzertruppe, so if you want to try and impress him talk about Panzer."

"Whats a Panzer? Is that like... a big cat?" Ruby asked as the Mantas engine began to fire up, that made Esdeath laugh a bit causing Ruby to blush again

"No you're thinking of a panther. Panzer translates to tank, it's been all he's thought of for my whole life." Esdeath explained a small amount of frustration in her voice, she then continued her voice getting a little shaky as she spoke"I tried to get him to transfer to my army but he declined the offer, saying 'being in an active army would be a detriment to his work.' so I had to get a different engineer head; Mich Gefrorenes, he's a fantastic engineer with a brilliant mind but..." Esdeath voice faltered and fell silent for a few moment as she recomposed herself a bit before finishing her sentence "I just wish father would have spent more time working with me, instead of his Panzer." Ruby felt a pang in her heart at that, but she knew what Esdeath could do, she kept having to remind herself that Esdeath was a bad person but it didn't feel right to do so

"Esdeath?" Ruby asked causing the woman to look her dead in the eyes "What was your first childhood like?"

Esdeath seemed surprised by that question but answered her regardless "My mother died on a hunt before I got to know her, my father trained me to be strong and to do everything in my power to survive. One day I left my tribe and went into the mountains for a few days to train and hunt on my own when I returned our tribe had been attacked by a neighboring tribe, I was ten at the time and my father died in my arms, after that I left and wandered the world-" Esdeath began to explain only for Ruby to interrupt her

"No, not your past I mean your childhood, like what did you do for fun?" Ruby clarified her interest in Esdeath continuing to rise

Esdeath nodded and spoke much slower "There wasn't much fun, I trained to fight, I gutted creatures for their valuables, and learned basic math and physics, father wanted me to be strong enough to lead the tribe when I was older so I had to make fun of it myself. I suppose that helped make me this way... huh, that's a new feeling, I believe this is called disgust, I've always had a hard time identifying my emotions, as father raised me I never had any need for emotions, and I've never had a problem killing either, I've been doing it since I was far younger than you." Ruby was surprised by what Esdeath had told her of her childhood, it hurt her to think that Esdeath had been forced into the role of villain because of Akames' point of view

"Esdeath, I'm sorry that I treated you so rudely. I should have been more reasonable." Ruby apologized as Esdeath pulled her into a hug which was almost immediately returned

**(o)**

Blake walked into the arena where Weiss said she would be, she watched as Weiss and Pyrrha traded blows as ice fire and lightning shot from Myrtenaster, Pyrrha had a surprisingly hard time keeping up with the amount of dust Weiss was proficient with, Weiss stabbed at Pyrrha as she did so she over extended and stumbled forward opening herself up for a counterattack which Pyrrha took full advantage of the opening by bashing her shield into Weiss' gut and spun and slashed across her chest with her blade and kicked her in the knee causing her to fall and then hit her upside the head in a fluent motion causing Weiss to collapse to the ground and groan in pain

"That was very good Weiss, you have improved exponentially, I'd like to know how you improved so much? All the holes I saw in your form basically vanished in two weeks! It impressive." Pyrrha complemented as Weiss slowly stood

"Akame is a very good teacher, she somehow caught me up on proper sword play really quickly." Weiss explained happily as she returned her blade to its sheath

"I didn't expect her to be such a good teacher, I suppose I should rethink my opinion on her." Pyrrha commented as she panted lightly "You all must have done some serious endurance training out there, if you're not tired right now."

Weiss chuckled at that "What? No I have the weakest stamina out of all of team RWBY, I am probably more tired they you right now, Akame just taught us how to hide our exhaustion it helps with psychology warfare, but with what we're up against I don't think that'll do much." Weiss then cracked her knuckles and called out "Anyways, Blake how'd your search go?" Pyrrha quickly looked over to the entrance and caught sight of Blake who was leaning on the railing

"Nothing, I guess you were right, she's not in the city." Blake replied as she looked downtrodden

Weiss muttered to herself then closed her eyes for a few moments then spoke "Alright, Ruby was just with Esdeath but I'd assume their done now, I'll call her, you call Yang, we have things to discuss."

"It seems you four have things to do, I have to go meet with Jaune so we can train so I'll leave you to it." Pyrrha said after she caught her breath

"Alright, see you later Pyrrha." Weiss waved as she drew her scroll and walked away with Blake as she did the same, both left Pyrrha alone in the arena to think on their words as she prepared to train with Jaune

**(o)**

Ozpin read over the document he was planing to send to James, it had all the information that Akame and Qrow had given him on Esdeath and the empire, it was important that he got it, even if they failed to kill her she wouldn't have a future in the military anymore so that would break her grip on RWBY and that was his primary concern, he sighed and rubbed his eyes, after a few minutes of quietly sitting and tired sighs his scroll began to ring quickly picking it up he answered it

"Hello?" Ozpin asked waiting for the response

"Ozpin, how have you been?" Glyndas voice came from the other end

"I'm fine, but how are you?" Ozpin asked his surprise and concern extremely obvious in his voice

"I'm fine, I haven't had any visitors but I have seen solders all over the place, it was really surprising to see them, its like an occupation down here." Glynda answered

"Alright, I guess we'll have to make do for now, you just focus on getting better, I'll be sure to keep your work as covered as possible with your absence." Ozpin nodded as he wrote down what she had said

"Thank you, I'll be going now." Glynda said as she hung up

Ozpin returned his scroll to his pocket and sighed, she hasn't found Qrow or Akame yet, he had to admit they were really good at vanishing when they needed to, he hopped that they had a plan because right now he was stuck worrying that they would play it by ear

**(o)**

Ruby and Esdeath exited the Manta and began towards the student dorms, it had begun to get late and the sun was setting, they had spent most of the day telling stories and joking. Esdeath rapped her arm around Ruby as they walked and it was met with no resistance

"After that Akame had me cut open the dear, it was strange the first time... but something strange happened... I don't know what it was but something felt off." Ruby said as they walked

After a few moments of thought Esdeath spoke "Strange, I've never heard of something like that happening before, perhaps someone more knowledgeable on such a subject would be a better person to talk to about this, I'd say Ozpin but I don't trust him as of right now, he gives off the feeling of prey that been backed into a corner."

"You're not wrong..." Ruby began but paused and began to think of what she was going to say, anything she says after this will determines her stance when it comes down to when Qrow will strike, she talked with Ozpin for a short while over the scroll before classes yesterday and he told her what the plan was, it was her job to keep Esdeath unaware but right now she didn't know what to do, the woman with her has been kind and polite not the monster that everyone else sees her to be, maybe they could be convinced, maybe they were wrong, she couldn't figure out her stance yet, her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a pair of lips hitting her own and erasing all of her thoughts and replaced them with confused and embarrassed thoughts

"Are you okay?" Esdeath asked Ruby who was rapidly growing brighter shades of red "You seem... distracted."

"I... I need some time to think... you know... its kinda important, you know how it is." Ruby said as she tried to avoid answering her thoughts yet

"Take all the time you need, choices like this are always difficult." Esdeath waved off causing Ruby to freeze in her tracks Esdeath continued walking a bit but froze when she noticed Ruby wasn't following

Ruby's body quickly grew cold as she hesitantly asked "What are you talking about?"

Esdeath scoffed at her question but answered all the same "Qrow and Akame are obviously in the city and in communication with Glynda, Ozpin sent her into the city and had her name placed in a hospital I had one of my Specialist sneak in and find her room, which was empty, making that the only logical conclusion. I had all of your scrolls monitored and fitted with a listening devices before you left my ship so if you had a conversation with it nearby I would know it, you told Ozpin about me and he immediately contacted Qrow, Qrow found Akame and are now searching for a way to defeat me, the only of which is in my ships armory." Esdeath explained causing Rubys fear of the woman to return she was extremely smart, Akame had told her that, but she didn't think she had that much insight "I don't mind letting you wait a while before giving me your answer on who's side you'll be taking but I will want an answer before the battle starts." Esdeath finished calmly as she placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders "Remember this; I will always trust your choices, but I will not hesitate to incapacitate you if you seek to do any harm to my solders. Do you understand?" Ruby nodded her fear leaving due to Esdeaths calming words

"I understand... but I want to talk to my team first." Ruby quietly said after a few seconds

"Of course, you should consult them, they are your allies." Esdeath agreed as they walked into the dorms

**(o)**

Pushing open the dorm room door they were greeted by Weiss, Blake, and Yang who were all talking but quickly fell silent when they saw Esdeath

"Ruby, what did dad tell us about bringing boys home!?" Yang teased causing Ruby to blush

"T-That doesn't ap-apply here!" Ruby stuttered out then spoke again with far more confidence "She's a girl!... So ha!"

"But we're still here, what? were you planing to do? Bone while we watched?" Yang shot again causing Ruby to blush even more

"If you all will excuse me, I'll be taking my leave." Esdeath said her eyes locked on the window as she quickly turned and left the room, team RWBY all shared looks then looked out the window themselves only seeing a crow sitting on one of the branches of the tree outside their room, they then began to talk about what their plan was for what was to come

**(o)**

Esdeath stormed out of the dorms and began towards the tree only for a very familiar voice to stop her "Over here Ice Queen."

turning she saw Qrow leaning on the wall right next to the door she just exited "Why the hell are you here? I thought you would have run away by now." Esdeath growled with all the anger she could muster but her voice still shook

"I came to make sure you were really you and I gotta say, I'm confused 'cause last time I saw you, you had a sizable amount of your body missing. So what gives? Did hell spit you back out?" Qrow asked as he crossed his arms his eyes carefully studying her making sure she wasn't going to suddenly attack

"I made a deal, I get to live again if I let my soul be reincarnated into a prime world. Now I know that doesn't make any sense to you but lets leave it at that, okay." Esdeath answered as she clenched her shaking hands into fists

"Alright, I only came here for that, and to confirm your relationship with Ruby. See you in three days." Qrow said as he pushed off the wall and walked away into the darkness leaving Esdeath alone to think on his words, but her mind was locked on her fear, she didn't expect it to be as powerful as it was

**(o)**

Ruby changed into her pajamas along side the rest of her team before they all sat down to talk

"Okay, where do we stand?" Ruby asked the question floated in the air as they sat quietly

Weiss was the first to speak letting confused anger sink through "What do you mean, I obviously stand against Esdeath."

"I actually wanted to ask something first." Yang said gaining all of their attention, before Yang spoke again she seemed to grow sick "I wanted to make sure of something before we make any choices... do any of you know the name of the specialists Oberst?"

Ruby nodded "Yeah, Winter told me to avoid her, and that she wanted to have a meeting with you guys to warn you."

"Do you know her name?" Yang carefully asked still looking sick

"Yeah, William... something." Ruby answered causing Yang to sigh in relief "Why does it matter?"

"You two say that name, now." Yang ordered looking to Weiss and Blake causing both of them to look surprised by how forceful Yang was being

"William." Weiss repeated confused by Yangs tone she then looked to Blake who also had a confused look

"Master." Blake answered causing everyone to look at her Yang had a scared look on her face, Weiss, Blake, and Ruby had confusion on theirs

"Dammit, gods fucking dammit!" Yang said in anger as she clenched her fist trying to calm herself

"What?" Blake asked looking between all of them

"You're brainwashed too." Yang answered causing Ruby and Weiss to turn to her

"What! Yang what do you mean by that? I'm so confused." Blake asked as Yang raged

"Winter told me, that Mas- that she could control people by looking into their eyes. That information isn't wrong, I know that Winter, me, and Blake are all under her control so our votes wont count, you two should talk this out, we'll go for a walk and I'll explain everything to Blake." Yang then got up and pulled Blake to her feet and quickly exited the room leaving Weiss and Ruby alone

"You know my stance, that woman has to go." Weiss repeated looking Ruby dead in the eyes

"I think... shes not as bad as everyone thinks she is." Ruby carefully said causing Weiss's eye to twitch

"Why do you say that? Because I cant seem to find any redeeming qualities about her." Weiss asked her irritation shining through her voice

"She is kind and polite, not some brutal monster everyone has made her out to seem." Ruby explained causing Weiss to scoff

"Have you been to Vale? Her solders are running a muck and posting wanted posters of Akame all over the city, shes basically placed the whole city under marshal law, and you think shes kind and polite, use your eyes, shes just putting on a front for you so you'll like her, I've dealt with people like that my whole life and I can say with complete certainty that shes lying to you." Weiss exploded, she knew Ruby was naive but now she was just acting crazy

"Weiss, I don't want her to die, and from where I'm sitting that's the outcome that is bound to happen if we don't do something. Please I'm asking as your friend, help me help her." Ruby tried with a pleading look in her eyes

Weiss looked completely unconvinced "If you want to save that _monster_ that's on you, but you'll have to do it alone." Rubys' face dropped at that and so did her posture

"Are you sur-" Ruby began but was cut off by Weiss "Yes, I'm sure. You're on your own."

"Okay, and I guess Yang doesn't want her or Blake to vote because their apparent brainwashed state." Ruby said neutrally after a sigh

"Yeah, not that they'd agree with you." Weiss bitterly said as she stood and walked to the door

"Where are you going?" Ruby asked as Weiss grabbed the handle

"Away from here for a bit. Besides I need to buy some things." Weiss answered coldly as she opened the door and left slamming it behind her.

Ruby lied back in her bed as tears began to flow from her eyes the stress of reality began to crush her spirit and she was having a hard time trying to get her team to agree with her, Weiss is the only one who she could ask for help Blake and Yang wouldn't willingly help

**A/N So I might have left this one off on a slightly depressing note, but hey we're one step closer to our goal of... battle, I'm making it extremely obvious cause it makes sense doesn't it, RWBY know a battle is coming and so does everyone who isn't a full on student. Cinder and her crew are going to be arriving soon, that plot line is still a go so don't worry too much about it getting to far off topic, or maybe worry that its not getting off topic.**


	6. Kill the Grudge

**A/N Its here, its here, its finally here. Sorry if all the fighting is a bit hard to follow or janky, if you haven't notice its been a while since I've been able to write a chapter of almost entirely combat and this time around I don't have any guidelines to follow, which isn't a jab... it was actually a very helpful... thing? Anyways anyone who read this I hope you enjoy, anyone who didn't read this I am indifferent towards your feelings of enjoyment.**

Three days have passed, Weiss had begun to distance herself from the rest of the team she has also begun to arm herself with a diverse set of tools and had begun to visit Ozpin in her free time. Ruby was growing concerned with Esdeath she seemed to be losing it, she was disheveled and tired looking, she seemed to have snapped from pressure or something, at first it was little things, she jumped from random noises and seemed to constantly be watching shadows, Ruby had yet to talk to her about it but now she looked like she was going to drop dead on the spot, even in combat class she wouldn't pay any attention to the students or call off all matches when they needed to be called, Ruby decided to talk with her after class that day, she sat and watched as a new transfer student Mercury fought Ren, it was extremely close with Mercury taking long pauses to study Ren but Ruby didn't care to her it was like watching two children fight, what mattered to her was Esdeath who was right now reading something off her scroll and looking absolutely furious

a few moments later the bell rung and Esdeath growled "Black wins the match, now all of you _**leave**_." Esdeath ordered as a small amount of her killing intent began burn causing all the students to quickly vacate the room in fear, save for Mercury's team who wait for him before following the lead of the rest of the class and running a fast a they could leaving Ruby and Esdeath alone

"Esdeath?" Ruby asked walking up to the desk, Esdeath didn't look up from her scroll

"What is it?" she asked the killing intent and anger completely vanishing

"I wanted to ask you how you're doing, because right now you look like crap." Ruby answered placing her hands on Esdeaths' desk

"I'm sorry, I just..." Esdeath began shakily before starting again much slower "I talked with Qrow a few days ago, and he said 'see you in three days' now that time has passed and now is the day they come for me... and I'm scared. Ha imagine that _me_ scared." Esdeath laughed out, she was completely on edge and horrified, Ruby blinked a few times in surprise she never once though Esdeath could be scared of anyone but here she was scared to the point where she hasn't even slept the past few days

"You wont be ready to fight if you're so tired you cant walk straight, come on." Ruby ordered grabbing Esdeaths hand and pulling her to her feet, the older woman followed her

**(o)**

Weiss sighed and slammed her fist into the lunch table cracking it causing Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha to jump in surprise

"Ruby is going to be the death of me! How the hell can she-" Weiss began to rant but her mouth was quickly covered by Blake

"You don't have to get all up in arms about it, what'll happen will happen, all we can do is prepare... well all _you_ can do." Yang commented as Weiss continued to rant into Blakes hand trying to shout at them

"Soooo... you guys going to the assembly today?" Jaune asked watching in fear as Weiss screamed in muffled rage

"Me and Blake are, I don't think Ruby or Weiss will though." Yang answered as she rapped her arm around Weiss's neck

"But its mandatory for all students." Ren said raising an eyebrow at them

"Yeah... but they got other things that need doing, Esdeath called a meeting with them so... you know." Yang lied causing all of team JNPR to quickly drop the subject in favor for talking about the dance tomorrow

**(o)**

Ruby entered her room slowly dragging Esdeath behind her, after shutting the door she jumped up to her bed and pulled Esdeath up with her then forced Esdeath to lie down

"Now get some sleep, I'll stay here and make sure no sneak attacks come your way." Ruby reassured as she pulled her blanket over Esdeath

"Thank you, Ruby." Esdeath muttered as she quickly fell asleep and pulled the blanket over her head, Ruby sighed and slid off the bed, landing quietly she tip toed over to her desk and began to work on summoning ice weapons like Esdeath had taught her she had grown a lot better at it over the course of the past few days, she can create swords but they aren't as good as the ones Esdeath can create and they take quite a bit of effort to create

**(o)**

Weiss, Blake, and Yang left the cafeteria and sat down on a bench nearby the cafeteria, they were all quiet mainly because they knew that the time they had now was most likely their last, it didn't stop them from hopped that it was going to end with none of them dead

"Are you two sure this is what you want? Wouldn't you rather to be there with us?" Weiss asked as she tightened the laces on her boots

"Believe me I _want_ to be with you two, I'm just saving you from a knife in the back." Yang said her voice laced with fear and doubt

"I'm doing the same, I wish we could stand with you but with our current state we have no idea if she could just show up and turn the tide in Esdeaths' favor, this is the best path to victory." Blake added as Weiss stood up and turned to them

"Thanks for doing this, I cant imagine how painful this is for you two." Weiss thanked as she checked over all her new equipment that was hidden across her outfit

"We'll be prayin' for ya." Yang said with a large smile on her face as she and Blake began towards the assembly hall

"I doubt any god would leave this up to us." Weiss muttered to herself

"Yeah, I'd rather you all not get mixed up in this." Weiss quickly turned around and saw Qrow

"Qrow?" Weiss asked blinking in surprise at him

Qrow looked to his left then right seeing no one but him "Yeah, who else could I be? Jeez, I thought you had some brains." Qrow snarked with a grin

"Where's Akame? Is she here? How did you get here?" Weiss began to ask all sorts of questions but stopped when Qrow raised his hand

"Come on, this way." Qrow then began to walk away Weiss quickly joined him "Oz told us that you'd be the only one joining us... I was actually hoping all of you would have gone to the assembly... but now I cant guarantee your safety, there is a high probability that you will die, you ready for that?"

Weiss nodded she had already prepared for such a risk "Yes, I'm ready."

Qrow scoffed at that as he stalked towards the forest nearby "Words are cheap, anyone can say their ready to die, not everyone can truly sacrifice everything and prove it."

**(o)**

Entering the forest Weiss was surprised to be met with Glynda, Raven, and Akame all of them were looking over their own gear, Akame had two blades on her but both looked like Murasame

"Akame!" Weiss happily said and hugged the younger of the two who immediately returned the hug then looked to her belt "When did you get two Murasame?"

"I got it back yesterday, thanks to Raven skill at stealth and Qrow getting the information from Esdeath and Ruby. To answer your actual question, one is Muranohi, we just redesigned it so it looks identical to Murasame. It's good to see you Weiss." Akame happily said her voice shaking a bit before dropping into her normal calm and monotone nature "I assume you already know our situation." Weiss nodded Akame continued speaking after the confirmation "Right, we don't know who she'll have with her, but we do know shes currently with Ruby in your dorm, if her semblance functions like how Ozpin said it did then Ruby or Esdeath could have Demons' Extract, lets just hope its Ruby."

"Yeah I wouldn't wanna deal with that again, two near death experiences are all I can really stand for one life time." Qrow commented as he began to look over Harbinger

"So we're stuck with a Schnee... great..." Raven snarked dryly as she tested the sharpness of Eclipse on the side of a tree

"Don't be rude Raven, Weiss is a very good student in combat class and has an extremely powerful Semblance. The better question is would you still be here of Yang came?" Glynda shot back, she seeming to be in a far better physical state then Ozpin had led everyone to believe but she still seemed a little slow

"Don't talk shit you cant back Goodbitch." Raven growled before she looked at Qrow then spoke "So who's gonna handle Rose?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss quickly asked that caused Raven to scoff

"You _cant_ be that thick, Ruby Rose is going to be fighting us too, so get your wittle head out of the clowds and grow the fuck up." Raven said as though she was talking to a child

"Well clearly not you." Qrow snarked causing Raven to glare at him, he calmly explained his reasoning "You weren't Summer biggest fan and Ruby is just like her, I'd rather you _not_ take it out on her."

Akame grabbed Qrows hand and gained his and Ravens' attention "I'll do it, Ruby wont want to fight me, it'll put her at a disadvantage and leave her open, one hit is all it takes for her Aura to give out and make her useless for the rest of the fight it'll take out one of their semblances too, then You, Raven, and I can gang up on Esdeath and hopefully kill her with few to no casualties."

"Fine." Raven agreed as she turned and grabbed her mask and put it on

"Just try to hit her as quickly as possible, I want to get this done quickly." Qrow agreed as he lightly squeezed her hand then slipped Harbinger back onto his belt

"I can work with that, just try to stay in range, I cant help you all if I cant see you. So you'll be on your own Akame." Glynda offered while she looked over a few different dust crystals she had, Akame nodded in understanding

"I'll try and make myself useful, I should mention that I can't summon yet, but I have done a few experiments with time dilation." Weiss offered meekly Akame placed her hand on Weiss's shoulder

"Don't worry about keeping up, just worry about helping when you can and staying alive." Akame reassured then after a few moments she spoke again her tone emotionless "Remember, this is a fight for your life don't hold onto anything; honor, mercy, humanity, all of it is a weakness, one which I let control me in our last confrontation, things wont end the same way this time around."

**(o)**

Esdeath and Ruby exited the dorm building, it was a little over an hour of sleep for Esdeath but it seemed to do wonders for her, lunch had ended and the assembly had started by now, the real problem was why it feels like they were being watched, Esdeath had to feel it too, her hand was on her blade as they walked towards her Manta which was currently waiting on one of the landing pads the walk wasn't long; they had to walk around the CCT tower through the courtyard and to the landing pads, simplicity itself. But what made that difficult was that same nagging feeling of- a loud bang brought her from thought and she acted on instinct and made a large shield of ice which shattered but stopped the attack looking around she saw no one until a heel collided with the back of her head sending her flying away from Esdeath

"RUBY!" Esdeath shouted she quickly drew her sword and swung wildly at whoever had attacked her Ruby, the blade stopped in a block of ice, her eyes greeted a pair of red ones slightly concealed by a mask and all her confirmed fears came flooding back "Ruby get to the ship, put the army on high alert! Go!" Esdeath ordered and leapt away from another strike this time from Qrow

Ruby complied and ran off towards the landing pads, her heart was racing and her mind was barely able to keep up but she knew what she had to do, running as quickly as she could she wished she had her semblance right about now, but she was still fast, what concerned her was the fact that she wasn't followed, someone had to be lying in wait, Glynda, Akame, or Weiss, it had to be one of them they were the most likely people to be waiting for her. Reaching the Manta she quickly ran inside

"Contact the Warships tell them to go into high alert now!" Ruby ordered there was no response "Hey! Are you listening!?" Ruby shouted as she walked up to the pilot who was covered in a significant amount of blood, his throat was cut. Quickly turning around finally listening to her instincts and summoned two blades, and she realized that she was cornered, her eyes confirmed that Akame was standing at the only exited of the ship, Murasame in hand staring blankly at Ruby

"Akame! Why did you kill them?! They were innocent!" Ruby shouted in fear as she raised her blades into a defensive stance, Akame didn't respond she just raised Murasame and rushed forward

**(o)**

Qrow kicked out his leg sending Esdeath down, rolling out of the way she slashed at him, only for it to be blocked by Eclipse, Raven quickly activated the burn blade setting the blade on fire and swung upward at Esdeath who dived backwards avoiding the strike from the unstable blade then changed the direction of her roll avoiding spikes of ice from Weiss and ones of steel and stone from Glynda quickly she kicked backwards and burst into blue rose petals which quickly changed direction and engulfed Weiss then reformed into Esdeath who held her blade to Weiss's throat

"Back off!" Esdeath ordered none of them complied, Weiss deactivated her Aura spun Myrtenaster around and stabbed it through herself and Esdeath who pushed her away and dived back again now with far less Aura, Weiss fell to the ground unconscious

"Raven get her out of here! I got the Ice Queen, without the ice shes far more manageable." Qrow ordered as he rushed Esdeath who's eye twitched

"FINE THEN!" Esdeath shouted and her body flashed blue, instantly hundreds of spears of ice formed in the air behind her _**"**__**Weissschnabel!"**_ Esdeath shouted and thrust her hands forward sending the spears towards them, Qrow and Glynda quickly dived to protect Weiss, Raven opened a portal in front of Qrow and one in front of herself sending the spears towards Esdeath who easily dodged them and ended the assault

**(o)**

Ruby flashed Red signaling that their semblances had gone back to normal but the blades of ice were still in her hands they actually reformed and became far lighter and sharper too, Akame kept stopping her attacks and stalked around her just staring blankly at her, it was the most unnerving thing she could think of, the fear and anticipation for when the next strike will be, it was soul crushing but she had to fight, if Akame got away from her Esdeath was dead so she had to hold out for as long as possible

sprinting forward Ruby slashed at Akames' head, Akame ducked and swung at her ankles but Ruby blocked it with the other blade of ice even then Akame moved as though she saw it coming and fluently spun and kicked Ruby in the gut sending her back again, this time Akame pressed the advantage and continued her assault, Ruby moved without thinking and disarmed Akame who dived away after the blade left her hands, her eyes quickly darted to the blade as Ruby stepped in the way of her vision

"Give up Akame! I win!" Ruby ordered as she pointed her blades at her and grinned, Akame rushed forward ducked under a strike from Ruby, drew her other blade and slashed Rubys' leg lightly causing her Aura to shatter and surprised her enough from the fatigue to fall

"Its over, now stay here and let us finish what we came her to do." Akame finally spoke as she grabbed 'Murasame' from the ground and sheathed it

"Akame please, don't-" Ruby began but was cut off when Akame kicked her upside the head

Akame looked at Ruby for a few moments before turning around and walking towards the other battle zone

"Please..." Rubys voice came dazed causing Akame to stop in her tracks "Akame... please..."

"You will never understand the horrors that woman unleashed, but Qrow does and so do I, after shes dead we'll tell you everything she didn't." Akame reassured the grounded girl as she began to walk away again ignoring her rustling movements behind her

**(o)**

Qrow locked blades with Esdeath both were shaking and tired but neither let the other gain any ground, pushing back and forth until the ground beneath them began to crack from the pressure

"I wont die to you again!" Esdeath growled her voice shaking violently, Qrow didn't respond he just broke the blade lock and flipped backwards as he did so Esdeath crouched to the ground avoiding his kick and placed her hand on the ground _**"Grauhorn!"**_ Qrow quickly moved Harbinger in front of him just barely blocking a large spear of ice from the ground that sent him away from her "**I WONT DIE TO YOU AGAIN!**" Esdeath shouted in rage as she felt her Aura shutter, her heart nearly stopped from that "Who... **WHO WAS WAITING FOR HER YOU BASTARD!?**" Esdeath shout again this time her rage was palpable

Qrow didn't answer he just rushed towards her to attack again, Esdeath calmly closed her eyes and placed her hands in front of her heart and took a deep breath _**"Mahapadma."**_

Qrows eyes widened as the word left her mouth but his fear left and was replaced by confusion after she vanished into thin air, quickly looking around neither he or Glynda knew where she was

"Come on, she's going after Akame!" Qrow called as he sprint off towards the landing pad

**(o)**

Akame blocked a strike from Crescent Rose then dived into the air and kicked her leg back catching Esdeaths blade, her fight suddenly got many times harder when Esdeath appeared out of nowhere

"**You little bitch, how dare you.**" Esdeath growled looking Ruby over seeing a few cuts and bruises "Ruby we have to retreat." just as Esdeath finished her statement her Manta gained a purple glow and collapsed into itself before exploding, Qrow and Glynda had caught up to them

"You cant run anymore, so stop trying to." Qrow called out as Akame moved over and joined him and Glynda

"Uncle Qrow please, don't do this. You don't know her lik-" Ruby tired again but was cut off by Qrow

"Ruby, that 'woman' nearly killed me three times, and was a massive pain in the ass for my whole time in Night Raid, she is the cause of death of tens of thousands of people, nothing you do or say can possibly change that fact. Now move." Qrow reasoned his eye glued to Esdeath

"I know! But that doesn't mean she cant have a second chance!" Ruby defended stepping in front of Esdeath who was stunned that Ruby was defending her

"Alright, did you know that she enjoys torture? She gets her jollies from human suffering, shes no better than the Grimm, the creatures _you're_ training to fight." Qrow shot back

"Give her a second chance and I know you'll see what I do, please its not something I can explain, please." Ruby pleaded taking another step forward

"Get out of the way Ruby." Qrow ordered as he finally looked at her, she didn't she just raised Crescent rose into a defensive position

"Ruby, move." Esdeath ordered as she raised her blade "I wont let you get hurt for me anymore." Ruby looked completely surprised by that statement but didn't move

"Qrow, I got Weiss to the infirmary." Raven said as she jogged up to them and drew Eclipse

"Weiss?" Ruby asked her heart dropping as she looking between Esdeath and Qrow

"She stabbed through herself to stab me, it was very brave of her, she didn't even hesitate." Esdeath answered quickly before Qrow could

"So are we not fighting or..." Raven asked looking to Qrow

"No Ruby just wont get out of the way." Qrow answered causing Raven to sigh

"I guess I'll just move her then." Raven commented and quickly dashed forward and shoulder bashed Ruby out of the way sending her sprawled, Esdeath reacted immediately and sliced at Ravens' head, Qrow jumped over her strike and sliced at Esdeaths head who ducked and rolled backwards avoiding both attacks then jumped back farther avoiding all three strikes from the Branwen's. Qrow, Raven, and Akame continued to pressure Esdeath into a corner as Glynda kept repairing damage done and sending debris at Esdeath who easily dodged it leaving few openings to be exploited

**(o)**

Ozpin kept the assembly going as long as he could but its been almost an hour and a half and all the students were now leaving, Ozpin had hoped that the fighting was done as he ran out the doors towards the CCT tower where Qrow said they would be fighting and alerted the teaching staff to not let anyone into the courtyard.

**(o)**

Esdeath threw Akame to the ground shattering her Aura, before she could follow up and kill her she was forced to block strikes from Qrow and Raven, quickly counterattacking both of them she broke their Aura too, unfortunately it left her completely open to attacks from them which shattered her Aura too, all three of them quickly moved apart panting heavily as they circled each other, Akame was struggled to get to her feet

"**You wont kill me, **_**I wont die.**_" Esdeath growled again as she panted heavily

"You seem pretty hung up on that, but its a good thing your vote doesn't matter here." Qrow snarked as he held down Harbingers trigger transforming it into a scythe

"It seems that we're here again, you're all alone against us. Oh but this time it three on one, how sad, even here you have no support." Raven taunted as she drew her steel blade and pointed it at Esdeath who summoned a blade of ice in her off hand

"_**You**_**... I wont let it end like this. Not again!**" Esdeath growled trying to hide her fear of the two in front of her but failed

"QROW!" Ozpins' voice came as he rushed towards them slowing to a stop after he saw a very angry looking Esdeath and asked "What's happened?"

"We're working on it. Take Akame and Ruby to the infirmary." Qrow ordered as he readied to rush Esdeath, Ozpin nodded and ran over to Ruby who was struggling to stand

"Come on Ms. Rose, you'll be no help anymore." Ozpin said as he helped her to her feet

"I'm fine, please just stop them from killing her." Ruby begged trying something to get this madness to end peacefully

"I'm sorry Ms. Rose there's nothing we can do now, the only way that'll happen is if Esdeath finds some way to get this to end peacefully but I doubt that's possible for her to do." Ozpin said as he moved to help Akame up too

"I'm fine. Take Ruby and go, regardless of what you feel after you're gone." Akame ordered as she looked down at Murasame "I just hope we don't start losing this."

"No, go with them." Qrow ordered not taking his eyes off Esdeath

"Qrow you know what I-" Akame began to reason but it was cut off by Qrow

"I know what you _can_ do, I just don't want to see you do that to yourself." Qrow said as he turned and looked her dead in the eyes

"You're not allow to die." Akame ordered back her voice shaking a little

"I wont." Qrow agreed, Akame then turned and joined Ozpin and Ruby

**(o)**

The fighting continued, most of the school staff was keeping the students from going to the courtyard and landing pads due to that reason, Atlas military airships and Manta were circling the air space above the courtyard watching the fight and trying to land

Qrow knocked Esdeaths blade from her hands spun around and swung Harbinger at her neck only for her to disarm him, not that it deterred the two from punching each other, Raven and Glynda had already moved away to ensure that none of the airships could land and get units out, leaving Qrow and Esdeath alone to fight, Qrow kicked at one of Esdeaths knees but it was bat away by her knocking him off balance causing him to fall, diving onto his back she rapped her arms around his neck and began to squeeze, Qrow quickly reached behind his head grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked towards him while swinging back his head, a loud crack echoed through his head and Esdeath let him go and stumbled backwards holding her nose with a growl, both stopped to catch their breath for a few moments

"Why can't you all just leave me alone?!" Esdeath asked as she held her nose shut trying to stop the bleeding

"You _kidnapped_ my _niece_ and _forced_ her into Tatsumis' role." Qrow answered as he panted and rubbed his throat

"and she _chose_ to stay with me. You don't get a choice anymore." Esdeath growled as she stood

"She's fifteen years old! You don't get to make those choices for her either!" Qrow growled back as he stood

both of them looked the other over. No advantages, no disadvantages, they were even right now, Qrow ran forward just as Esdeath summoned a dagger and slashed at his throat, sliding under the strike he knocked her down and quickly dived on top of her and stomped on her wrist and held down her other hand leaving one of his hands free quickly cocking his arm back he swung and began punching her over and over and over again until a gunshot tore him from his bloodlust and through his arm sending him off of Esdeath who took full advantage of said event and dived on top of him and began to attack him with her own assault of strikes until the same thing happened to her and a bullet tore through her shoulder sending her off of Qrow

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" A voice finally got through to both of them, both looked over to the voice and saw James Ironwood standing holding one of his pistols smoke rising from the barrel he then spoke again "Neither of you seem to have any control on the battlefield. I would have expected this from Esdeath, but not you; Qrow."

"Oh good... Jimmy's here." Qrow snarked slightly slurred due to damage as he put pressure on his bicep where he was shot

"Why wou-" Esdeath began but favored for spitting up a few of her teeth a coughing up some blood then covered her shoulder where the bullet went through

"Qrow, both you and Esdeath are fighting for the same goal now. Killing each other is the same as letting Salem win, Ozpin called for me because he knew that Esdeath at the very least listens to what I say. He's also told me quite a few interesting things about you; Esdeath." Ironwood spoke as he walked over to the two he was quickly flanked by two robotic solders "It's your job is to _protect_ the people of the world, not _occupy_ foreign land for your own needs, this isn't your empire anymore, is that understood?"

"Yes Reichsmarschall." Esdeath agreed looking him dead in the eyes and found no room for compromise

"Now then, both of you... hug and make up." Ironwood finished calmly causing both to look at each other than him

"You cant be serious! If I go any closer to her I'm gonna knock her flat." Qrow shouted and pointed at Esdeath

"Oh you can try! I'll cut you down before you get the chance." Esdeath shouted back and pointed at Qrow

"Both of you are acting like children, so I'm gonna treat you like children." Ironwood reasoned causing both of them groan, he then raised his gun "We can do this at gunpoint if you want."

"James please, don't make me do this." Qrow asked genuinely hoping it would work. It didn't. Ironwood just cocked back the hammer

"Alright I don't wanna get shot again, how 'bout you?" Qrow asked turning to Esdeath who looked torn and after a few moments of quiet Qrow spoke again "Are you kidding me?"

"Of course I'm joking, I have either the choice of continuing to fight you and probably dying, or surviving so I can see Ruby again." Esdeath answered causing Qrow to sigh, both looked at each other and slowly moved towards each other, Qrow then stopped for a few seconds and looked at Ironwood who gestured for him to continue, Qrow grimaced at that and moved forward again, both stopped in front of each other, surprisingly Qrow found that he was only a little taller than her both looked each other dead in the eyes

"I really don't wanna do this." Esdeath said looking him dead in the eyes

"I don't want to either." Qrow agreed and his eye darted to Ironwood then looked back to Esdeath, they both inched forward a bit neither wanting to get too close to the other as they rapped their arms around each other in a very awkward hug

"Good, now then I have _another_ fight to break up. Go to the infirmary and get patched up." Ironwood ordered as he walked towards the direction they last saw Raven and Glynda

**(o)**

Qrow and Esdeath walked towards the infirmary having to avoid the crowds due to their status of being huntsman if it was found that they were trying to kill each other the other council members would have a field day so they elected to walk around and into the forest, after a few moments of walking Esdeath began to slow down to a stop

"Whats up?" Qrow asked as he stopped too

"Are we going to continue?" Esdeath asked tiredly as she leaned against a tree, Qrow sighed and looked down at the ground for a few moments

"No... as much as I'd like to, Jimmy was right. Lets deal with Salem first... then each other." Qrow answered with a very pained tone in his voice "Now lets keep moving, I don't wanna bleed out before we get there."

"Yeah... I don't think... I'll be making it that far..." Esdeath quietly said as she began to slump towards the ground, Qrow quickly caught her before she hit it

"Dammit." He growled then let out a short whine and spoke to himself "It'd be so easy... 'Last I saw her we got separated in the woods.' it would be that easy..." after a few seconds of silence he muttered to himself again "Dammit." reaching into his pocket he pulled out some gauge and quickly covered her wound tightly and picked her up

**(o)**

Akame and Ruby sat in the same hospital room staring at each other in awkward silence

"So... how was your week?" Ruby asked as she scratched the back of her head

"Easier, thanks to you." Akame answered calmly causing Ruby to blink in surprise she expected an insult

"What? I thought you were gonna go on a tangent talkin' about how wrong I was for fighting against you." Ruby said in disbelief causing Akame to tilt her head in confusion

"You were just doing what you though was right, I can't and won't fault you for that, but I will thank you for suffering for me. I don't know what it took to get Esdeath to release me, but thanks to you we got the chance we needed." Akame explained her tone unchanged from complete calm, but the context of what Akame had said hurt Ruby, she couldn't stop wondering if Esdeath was going to die because of her

"I... I know that I wanted Esdeath gone... at first, but now... I don't think I really want that... she... shes great! She is kind, helpful, smart, beautiful, I have no idea how she can be so wonderful!" Ruby gushed letting her true feelings shine through after trying to be tactful about it

"Ruby, what has she told you about whats shes done?" Akame asked her voice unchanged

"Nothing, well that's not entirely true, she told me about her childhood." Ruby explained awkwardly Akame nodded

"She was known as empires strongest with good reason, but she chose to support the minister because he let her start wars, put down rebellion, and allowed her to do whatever she wanted as long as she ensured that he remained in power." Akame explained she then looked at her hands and continued "He did that with many people, Esdeath was well know for being brutal and unforgiving, when I saw her in that village I acted on instinct, perhaps shes different now, perhaps not, but that doesn't matter she committed so many crimes against humanity and peace itself, she has to pay for it."

"But she shouldn't have to die, there has to be a better way." Ruby said sadly

"Not everyone deserves a better way of paying for their crimes." Akame answered causing Rubys eye to twitch

"Then how will you pay!?" Ruby asked anger dripping from her voice

"This is my payment, I'm still here." Akame explained just as coolly as before "Perhaps I shouldn't have a family again, perhaps I should be alone, perhaps I should still be in the empire with the weight of all the crimes committed we committed on my shoulders. But I'm not, Qrow was the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for and I have no way to repay him. That is my payment. A life of unpayable debt."

"And Esdeaths' is death!? How is that fair!?" Ruby asked still enraged

"Yes, we don't all pay fairly. Much like life; death is unfair." Akame answered again Ruby screamed in frustration

"STOP MAKING SENSE! I just want to not feel guilty about letting Esdeath live!" Ruby finally shouted out in sadness and rage

"Then don't, if she survives it'll probably be because Qrow or someone let her live and if Qrow did let her live than I'm sure he'll have a good reason." Akame answered, Ruby suddenly felt like a weight was lifted off her it was strange but Akame held a huge amount of sway over Rubys feelings

**(o)**

Hours had passed and the fighting had ended, the official story was that the Atlas military were preforming live fire exercises and didn't want the student body to interfere with them, James Ironwood made a full statement discounting rumors about a large battle that took place and said that they were merely live fire exercises, and that there was no need to worry.

**(o)**

Qrow entered the room designated for the people who participated in the battle, it was a private top floor room with multiple beds three of which were occupied, one by Ruby, one by Akame, and finally one was occupied by an unconscious Weiss. Akame was the first to greet him

"Qrow, I'm glad to see you're alive." Akame happily said as Qrow walked over to her bed and flopped down next to her

"We failed..." He whined into the bedding

"What! How?" Akame asked her heart sunk when she heard his words, on the other side of the room though Rubys' heart soared at the thought that Esdeath had survived

"James shot us..." Qrow answered in the same tone "Then sent us here... and nothing else... I feel like shit..."

"I don't like this James than." Akame said as she ran her hand through Qrows' hair

"He also shot Esdeath..." Qrow continued in his tired tone

"I am back to indifference." Akame joked as she smiled at Qrow

"Where's Esdeath then?" Ruby asked causing Qrow to lift his head from the bed and turn it towards her

"She lost a lot of blood and had quite a few broken bones and ribs, they had to begin an operation on her as soon as we got here." Qrow answered causing Ruby to look down "I understand how you felt by the way." Qrow said after a few moments of quiet "Esdeath can offer the world and follow through. But you need to understand that she _needs_ a leash, if you let her run wild it'll be the end of everything you hold dear, be careful kid. I worry 'bout ya." Ruby was surprised by her uncles words she thought he was going to yell at her for fighting for Esdeath but he didn't, he said he understood...

"Did you feel that way when you went north to watch her?" Akame asked as she continued to run her fingers through his hair

"Yeah, but we made a deal and I wasn't planing on breaking it. 'sides if I did, I would get to spend time with you." Qrow happily said then after a few seconds he got a serious look on his face the slowly spoke "hey... wait a minute Najenda didn't pay us!"

"I thought you knew." Akame said after his realization

"Ah dammit, that's like... five months worth of overtime that I'm never gonna get back." Qrow complained causing Ruby to laugh

"Did they at least match your 401k?" Ozpins' voice came from the door way causing all of them to look at him, Ruby and Akame both raised an eyebrow.

Qrow laughed at that for a few moments before stopping completely and spoke in a serious voice "No, they didn't." that brought laughter to both Qrow and Ozpin

"Whats 401k?" Akame asked as she looked between the two

"Ill explain later, anyways I wanted to ask you Oz; did you plan this?" Qrow said as he moved himself into a more comfortable position

"Yes, I expected two outcomes to this... mess. You kill Esdeath and things generally go back to normal just a far _far_ weaker relationship with Atlas and possibly war. The other was, Esdeath kill you all... then me... then a war starts between Vale and Atlas due to the deaths, it would end with a second great war, and Esdeath would have her wish. So I called on James to hop in and prevent any deaths, relations between Atlas and Vale are fine and now you all can stop trying to kill each other." Ozpin Explained causing all of them different levels of surprise

"Thanks for the insight Oz... and the hole in my arm." Qrow thanked clearly unhappy about it as he rolled over Akame and onto the other side of her bed, Akame looked at him for a moment then quickly lifted the blanket she was lying under and draped it over both of them

"Ah... that's nice." Qrow said tiredly as he and Akame curled together and quickly fell asleep

"Wow... that was fast." Ruby said watching as both of them lightly snored

"Yes, but that's normal, given our profession Huntsman and Huntresses should always rest whenever possible. You'll never know when you'll have to fight so its best to just sleep when you can." Ozpin explained as he leaned on Rubys bed, after a few moments of quiet Ozpin spoke again in a far more serious tone "Ms. Rose, I wont tell you how to handle this but I will say, be careful of Esdeath I wont tell you who or who not to love but always keep your eyes on your goal, or Esdeath will obscure it until your goal is anything she says. Be yourself and don't let her be you for you."

"I wont. Can you tell me when shes out of surgery?" Ruby agreed causing Ozpin to nod

"Yes, I'll send her up this way when shes out." Ozpin agreed as he smiled at her the smile quickly changed to a pained one as he spoke again "Please, for both our sakes remember our conversation."

"I wont forget, I promise." Ruby agreed as Ozpin stood from her bed and walked away

**A/N this arc is now over, six chapters left to go. I don't know what I'm gonna do but I got an idea for the next chapter, I hope this one is enjoyed a large majority of this chapter was combat, and admittedly I've gotten a bit rusty at writing combat cause with RWBY volumes 1, 2, and 3 combat rarely happens outside of a controlled setting anywhere with the exception of missions and the wild so I kind threw myself into the deep end with this one so I hope it doesn't completely slog things up.**


	7. Kill the Dance

**A/N Sorry this didn't come out last week, but it was Christmas and I got swamped with family stuff and building a new computer, So I apologize if you were looking forward to a new chapter last week and it never came. But hey If it does come out last week yay for me I did it**

Qrows eyes opened to the sound of unfamiliar fawning he quickly looked around what instantly caught his attention was Esdeath who was sitting next to Rubys' bed her face inches from Rubys who was quietly snoring, Qrow then looked down at Akame who's eyes were already and stared at him

"Mornin' kid." Qrow quietly said as he shifted a bit "I was gonna go and talk with Oz for a bit while you rested." Akame nodded with a quiet yawn and lied her head back down and closed her eyes, Qrow quickly got out of bed and tucked Akame in a bit after ensuring she was comfortable he looked at Esdeath and gestured to the door, Esdeath nodded and followed him out

"Come on, I wanna talk with Oz 'bout this, and you gotta be there too." Qrow said after she shut the door

"I'd rather be here when Ruby wakes up. So I'll decline." Esdeath shot down causing Qrow to roll his eyes

"And I wish I could visit Akame more frequently than when a murderous psychopath cheats death, too bad we don't all get what we want, now come on it'll make things easier for both of us." Qrow snarked causing Esdeath to growl at him

"Where the hell do you get off? You're not allow to order _me_ around." Esdeath growled at him

"It's not an order its a choice-less suggestion, I'm just saying that we should get this over with sooner rather than later, look Jimmy said we're fighting the same enemy so this meeting includes you too." Qrow shot back

"I'm getting sick of all these secret meetings, you and Akame may be fine withholding information on Salem from Ruby but I'm not. Ruby deserves to-" Esdeath began causing Qrow to look away from her and spoke cutting her off "Akame doesn't know either."

"What?" Esdeath asked as she blinked in surprise

"I never told her, Oz doesn't like getting anyone involved until we know they'll stay involved. I just wanted Akame to have a normal life for a while... but it seems that 'cause you're here she doesn't get that." Qrow explained sadly as he leaned on the wall of the small hallway

"You didn't tell her?" Esdeath asked Qrow nodded "You brought her here. But you didn't tell her _ANYTHING_ about the war she was stepping into!?" Esdeath shouted in rage

"I gave her the option she chose to come. You cant blame me, I was hoping that she would chose a completely different path, one that she could lead a simple life with little to no fighting..." Qrow defended then after a few seconds he spoke again "Gods, I really have become like Tai."

"I never took you as one for being soft." Esdeath teased causing Qrow to scoff

"I bet if Ruby yawned again you'd swoon for hours." Qrow snarked back causing Esdeath to blush a bit

quickly ridding herself of her blush Esdeath recomposed herself "Fine tell me what this meeting is about and I'll consider going to it."

"I'm assuming that's the best I'll get from you?" Qrow asked Esdeath nodded causing him to sigh "I wanted to try and figure out how we're gonna to function together, 'cause I for one never want to see you again, but that's not gonna happen so we need to figure out a compromise." Qrow explained Esdeath nodded in agreement

"That would be both helpful and beneficial for us. But I will say you and Raven haven't faltered in your teamwork. The offer of subordination still stands, should you wish to take it." Esdeath said causing Qrow to roll his eyes

"Yeah I'll get right on that one." Qrow said his voice soaked in sarcasm

"Its just an offer." Esdeath reaffirmed as they began to walk down the hall towards the stairwell

"Anyways I wanted to ask you, are you really scared of me and Raven?" Qrow asked as they walked along

"Absolutely terrified." Esdeath answered calmly she then went into farther detail "When I was growing up I had frequent nightmares of you two and would constantly lose sleep over it, that was until my parents took me to therapy for about half of my childhood. When you showed up out of no where four days ago and said told me how long until we met again I reverted back into that phase, luckily Ruby made me sleep I've been waiting to thank her for that."

"Yeah that was kinda the point, I had a friend run a background check on you and found those therapy sessions so we figured we'd use it against you. Unfortunately for us it didn't work in our favor." Qrow explained then he awkwardly spoke again "I'm sorry 'bout that too."

"Don't be you saw a weakness and exploited it, I would have done the same." Esdeath waved off as they made their way down the stairs

**(o)**

Reaching the bottom floor Esdeath was immediately called by Winter as both of them recognized her

"General! None of us had any idea... why is _he_ here?" Winter began happily but that happiness turn to disgust when she saw Qrow

"Oh good. Jimmy _and_ Ice Queen minor, it must be Christmas." Qrow snarked causing Winter to growl at him

"So does that make me Ice Queen major?" Esdeath asked causing Qrow to chuckle

"Which one of you can literally freeze time?" Qrow asked turning to Esdeath

"Which one of us can wha-" Winter began but was cut off by Esdeath

"Me, so I suppose that does make sense."

"You can what!?" Winter asked in disbelief as she tried to keep up this the other two

"Well we gotta go talk with Oz so we'll be getting a move on, see ya later, minor." Qrow snarked as he and Esdeath quickly exited the building leaving Winter to try and figure out their antics

**(o)**

Akame opened her eyes and looked around, Qrow was gone but that was alright, she knew he would be back. Getting up from bed she grabbed Murasame and hooked it on her belt and began towards the door before she reached it the door was opened by Winter

"Oh... you're here too." Winter coldly said glaring at Akame who calmly stood aside

"And here I thought this was a place of peace." Winter commented as she entered the room and began towards Weiss

"It is a place of peace. Once Esdeath left." Akame commented back causing Winter to freeze in her tracks and turn towards her

"Shes done more good for this world then you ever will." Winter shot her voice carrying all her anger

"Probably, but I never needed to claim that I do good." Akame calmly replied as she exited the room leaving Winter to her family as she searched for food

**(o)**

Entering the elevator Qrow pushed the top button on the list and leaned on the wall of the elevator as Esdeath did the same

"So, your file said that you spent most of your childhood going to therapy it cant have just been me and Raven so what else?" Qrow asked after a few awkward seconds

"That's a strange way to begin conversation." Esdeath snarked as she rolled her eyes at him "But its because... growing up here I didn't have all my memories at once, everyday I lived here I relived again back in the empire..." Esdeath explained as she looked down at the ground for a few moments, her eyes then darted to his "...back with you. But I never realized that you were also my saving grace. I got to live a normal life for once, no one feared me, no one ran, and no one was too afraid to approach me, of course I still retained my skills from living two lifetimes, I was far smarter and skilled than most ten year old's."

"Wait how old are you now? Like twenty? Twenty-one?" Qrow asked looking her over

"I'm twenty why?" Esdeath answered her suspicious clear

"That makes you forty if you have both life times in your head." Qrow said with a laugh

"I seem to recall it being common practice not to ask a woman her age." Esdeath growled at him

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I run into any." Qrow snarked as the elevator grew colder by the second and his breath became visible

**(o)**

Reentering the room Akame had four plates of meat piled as high as the medical staff would allow her, setting them down she lightly shook Ruby causing her to groggily open her eyes

"Akame? What time is it?" Ruby asked in a tired tone

"around 6:47, I don't have a scroll anymore so I cant be too precise." Akame answered quietly then continued in the same quiet tone "I brought food, if you want to eat it warm you'll have to wake up now."

Ruby quickly smacked herself and sat up "I'm sooo hun-" Ruby began in a loud cheery voice but was stopped from speaking by Akames' hand

"Weiss is still asleep, I was going to wake her next, so stay quiet for a few more moments." Akame said then released the younger of the two then turned and grabbed a plate of meat and handed it to Ruby who quickly got to eating, turning to Weiss, Akame walked over to her and looked at Winter to was asleep as well, Akame shook Weiss awake

"Huh... Akame? Am I dead?" Weiss asked her voice shaking horribly

"No, you're still alive." Akame answered and pulled her into a tight hug then released her and smacked her upside the head and spoke again in a shaky tone "Don't ever do that again. It was reckless and stupid, and you made me, Ruby, and Winter worry about you! Value your life more than victory."

"But you said-" Weiss began but was cut of by Akame who sounded very angry "What I said applies to you until it come to self sacrifice. Me, Qrow, Glynda, and Raven have all lived our lives as best we could, you still have yours ahead of you."

"You're younger than me though." Weiss added her tone was quiet

"I'm younger than you, but you know what I've done. My payment will come some day, you don't have anything to pay for yet, so don't throw your life away." Akame clarified as she hugged Weiss again and spoke "Now then, I brought food, you're not allowed to complain about it being only meat after that stunt you pulled."

"Thank you Akame." Weiss thanked causing Akame to smile and go to grab Weisss' food

**(o)**

The elevator door opened and a thick white mist came pooling out, before Ozpin could question it Qrow came flying out covered in frost next came Esdeath who was perfectly fine

"So... what was that about?" Ozpin asked carefully as he grabbed his cane and looked to Esdeath who leaned on the wall and glared at Qrow

"He called me old." Esdeath answered as she crossed her arms

"Worth it." Qrow chattered with a quiet laugh

"Careful not to bite off your tongue." Esdeath spat at him

"Well I can see this is going to be an easy meeting." Ozpin joked as he leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms

"Qrow and I discussed it and we would like to know how we'll function given the unique situation we're in? Since both of you seem to like to keep more away from me than I had originally though I'm here to argue apposing points." Esdeath said as the ice the was on Qrow flew off of him and into her hands before melting away

"That's simple, given your status in the Atlas military you cant move as freely as he can, so you'll just act as support when he's on a mission wherever in the world you two are in at the time." Ozpin explained calmly

Esdeath nodded slowly then spoke again this time her tone was identical to the one that Qrow heard when she was talking to just about anyone she didn't like but Qrows eye were focused on Ozpin "Alright I can work with that. Now then on to other points, I want Ruby and Akame brought up to speed on Salem."

"Out of the question." Ozpin shot down his voice cold "They are still students, they will stay that way until they graduate and choose."

"Akame chose to be here for that very purpose, and Ruby has already run into Roman Torchwick, one of Salems' pawns. She'll either learn it from us, or one of them. Who would you rather it be?"

"I doubt they'll run into him again. That was a one off thing." Ozpin waved off as he looked Qrow over as he stood and began to warm himself

"Fate is a strange beast Ozpin." Esdeath shot back a form of determination burning in her eyes "They will run into him again, even if I must force fates hand myself. I had him followed for the past few days, and imagine my surprise when I learned that one of our convoys bound for Mistral was raided and all the supply taken. Then one of my specialist following Roman led them to a White Fang meeting where Roman told the faunas there about an operation taking place to the South-East. That leads me to my next point, team RWBY is still under my command, they along with myself will be assaulting the enemy's hideout."

"They will not." Ozpin growled for the first time in his life Qrow saw Ozpin actually angry

"Its a military matter, not something you are well versed in." Esdeath arrogantly shot

"not something..." Ozpin began but quickly quelled his rage "The dance is tonight, even if you wish to take them on a mission you must be here. To keep up appearances."

"I know, I was planing on moving out tomorrow. I'm not a fool Ozpin, I've traversed the ins and outs of arrogant and corrupt bureaucracy." Esdeath confidently said as she pushed off the wall and walked up and leaned on his desk "I will tell Ruby, and I will tell Akame. Whether you like it or not, by the end of this week they will know." Esdeath claimed, Qrow knew she would follow through and so did Ozpin, Esdeath then turned and walked towards the elevator quickly followed by Qrow

**(o)**

"So what the hell was that!? Why would you act like that in front of Ozpin." Qrow asked after the elevator door shut

"What do you mean?" Esdeath countered calmly she then turned her attention back to him and smiled warmly with a tone to match "I saw the glares you were throwing at him. You aren't happy with him, are you?"

"You were seein' things." Qrow quickly defended leaning on the opposite side of the elevator

Esdeath pressured as she paced back and forth behind him "I don't think I was. You had the taste of a competent leader and now you realize that Ozpin isn't that."

"Shut up, you were seeing things." Qrow denied again, Esdeaths' pacing stopped directly behind him

"I could go on and on about how bad of a leader Ozpin is, but you probably know better than me." Esdeath commented

"Oh sure, lets talk about how good of a leader you were." Qrow snarked causing Esdeath to laugh a bit

"I needed nothing I just wanted battle, I gave my solders a home, a place where they weren't judged for any of their flaws; bloodlust, masochism, sadism, deformities, debt, insanity, _bad luck_, etcetera." Esdeath listed as she pressed her chest into his back "I am a good leader, I've had over twenty years of experience, if I wasn't here what do you think Ozpin would do about the White Fang?" Qrow knew the answer but chose to try and ignore her "Come now, I know whats running through your head right now. 'I know Ozpin's been lying to me my whole life, Esdeath has been right the whole time.' is that about right?" Esdeath snarked Qrow continued to try and ignore her, but given the fact that they were the only ones in the elevator and their current position it was getting too hard to ignore her "You don't have to speak. I wont try and convince you anymore, I know you'll convince yourself, you're too smart to let Ozpin rule over you for too much longer." after that she fell silent but she didn't move away from him until the elevator door opened then she exited the elevator and spoke one more time "Think of what I said in here, weigh your options, then decide what you think is best for both you and Akame." after that she left leaving Qrow alone with his thoughts

**(o)**

Akame then moved to Winter and shook her a bit, Winter opened her eyes and they quickly darted to Weiss then Akame

"What do you want?" Winter asked coldly

"I brought food for everyone. Have some." Akame said neutrally and held a plate of meat out to her

"I'd rather had diversity in my meals." Winter denied politely

"Trust me, Winter. When it comes to Akame you don't get much choice in food. Its meat, meat, and meat." Weiss said then continued to sloppily eat as much meat as she could grab

"That's disgusting." Winter said as her plate was taken away from her

"Your lost than." Akame said and quickly began to eat everything on her plate than Winters' causing surprise from everyone in the room "What?"

"You... how is that physically possible?" Weiss asked after she finished hers and whipped her mouth clean, the door opened again and Esdeath entered smiling happily at everyone

"Oh good, you're all here. Akame, we're going shopping in ten minutes, Ruby, Weiss, Winter, you all can come too. We're going to buy dresses for the dance tonight." Esdeath said causing Everyone surprise

"I completely forgot!" Weiss shouted "I was too distracted! Training to... fight..." her statement fell short when her eyes fell on Esdeath who smiled at her

"Training to fight me." She happily finished "If you're going to stab through yourself to try and kill me that I have no right to stop you from taking pride in that fact."

"YOU WHAT!?" Winter shouted causing Weiss to look towards the ground "YOU STABBED YOURSELF!"

"She had no fear when she did so either, instead of berating her praise her." Esdeath said then turned back to Weiss and spoke again in her General tone that she typically held when dealing with almost anyone she Weiss for your strong will and willingness so give your life for your friends I feel the need to promote you to Spezialistenkader-Oberschütze, that puts you one rank above the rest of your team save Ruby. You will get extra responsabilities and extra pay, congradualtions."

"Congrats Weiss!" Ruby called from her bed

"Thank you general... but I have something I wanted to ask." Weiss said causing Esdeath to smile at her and wait "William, our Oberst, can I request that my team get transferred to Akame instead?" that request caused Esdeath to smile and turn to Akame who was blinking in surprise from Weiss's words

"That's up to her, Akame would you like to have your first squadron be team RWBY?" Esdeath asked her expression unreadable

"I figured after I attacked you I'd be a war criminal in your eyes." Akame finally said her surprise vanishing

"Am I not one in yours? It really doesn't matter to me, I enjoyed fighting you all again, it gets so dull being surrounded by so many weaklings I wanted to rip my hair out, you all brought some fun back into fighting for me, why would I make you a war criminal because of that? Now answer the question."

"I will gladly take them on." Akame answered then turned to Weiss and spoke "First order, Weiss, heal."

"What?" Weiss asked after a few seconds of confused silence

"You heard me, Heal." Akame repeated causing no clarification

"I cant just... heal myself? I cant do what your asking." Weiss said after she tried to activate her Aura

"That sounds like insubordination." Akame said smiling at Weiss who was still completely confused as Akame walked over and channeled her Aura into Weiss healing her Aura and activating it "There try again."

Weiss looked at her stab wound and watched as it slowly closed to something far less serious "Hang on a second was that a joke!?" Ruby shouted as she stood from her bed, Akame shrugged

"General, Why did Weiss stab herself?" Winter quietly asked "That's simple, I held her hostage and she stopped that really quickly by doing so." Winter nodded as she watched Akame carefully

"Yes, she may be young but she has a lot of experience in combat and deserves the chance to excel in a field that will appreciates her experience." Esdeath answered Winters' unspoken Question, her statement surprised Akame, she thought Esdeath would hold a major grudge against her and everyone else involved in Night Raid, it looked like she was wrong Esdeath then spoke again her tone unchanged from before "But I do understand your concerns Winter but I've thought of a solution I hope you'll be happy with, Winter you are now Akame second in command you are to follow her orders and help her when she asks for it." Esdeath finished and everyone looked at Winter who seemed to slowly drain of color

"Now then, lets all go dress shopping for tonight." Esdeath added, now it was Akame turn to drain of color

**(o)**

They were in a store for what felt like hours, Akame was hoping to disappear into a crowd and she nearly succeeded but Esdeath easily caught her and forced her back to the group, so escape wasn't possible and due to social convention she couldn't attack Esdeath that would cause a scene, so now she was stuck shopping.

Esdeath was wearing a blue dress that changed from a light blue to a dark blue the farther down you looked, it draped over her right shoulder and went just below her knees, Ruby couldn't look away, Akame just looked tired of standing in a store waiting to waste money. Weiss and Winter complemented her dress and looks

next was Rubys turn to put on a dress, Ruby wore a solid Red dress that went over her knees and wore black heels which she seemed to have absolutely no trouble walking in, she also seemed surprised by that

"AKAME! I'M WALKING IN HEELS!" Ruby loudly exclaimed as she looked at her feet

"Whats so surprising by that?" Akame asked watching Ruby walk around with ease "Its not that difficult."

"Ask Yang she'll tell you how much trouble I had went I walked in heels at any other point before now." Ruby explained

"You look stunning Ruby." Esdeath said from behind the two causing them both to look at her Esdeath spoke again she seemed completely distracted by Ruby's looks "Absolutely beautiful."

"Wheres Weiss and Winter?" Ruby asked looking around as she grew more and more red

"They left to go shop for dresses themselves because they know what they look good in." Esdeath and Akame said at the same time causing Ruby to blink a few times

"What?" Ruby asked looking between the two

"They said earlier that they were going do split off and grab their own dresses." Akame explained "Now if we're done, I suggest we leave now. We do have nine hours before the dance and Qrow is most likely in a bar somewhere."

"What makes you think that he's drinking?" Esdeath asked her curiosity peaked

"Akame is really good at predicting where and what people she know are doing." Ruby answered as she sat down and pulled off her heels

"Really, well than, what do you think Blake is doing?" Esdeath asked

"Blake went to the assembly yesterday and so did Yang, so it can be assumed that they had also forgot the dance too using that information we can assume that she was dragged out by Yang to go dress shopping, where I cant say but I will assume somewhere they both can afford but giving the fact they also earn a pay check from you they could shop anywhere, yang wouldn't realize that but Blake would, and thus they would come here as both an affordable option and a place they know." Akame answered quickly

"Is that your final answer?" Esdeath asked raising an eyebrow

"No, that was for their sake, they've been following us ever since they saw us leave Beacon, and are currently hiding over there." Akame said and pointed at a clothing rack

Esdeath smiled at that and spoke in a light tone "Very good, I never took you for a joker."

"Spending every night for almost a week with Qrow will do that to you." Ruby said this time surprising Akame and Esdeath, Blake and Yang both exited their cover and joined the three on their hunt for clothes, additions that Akame wasn't too thrilled about mainly because that would mean that there were now more opportunists that they would notice she wasn't buying a dress nor trying any on

**(o)**

Qrow entered the seediest bar he could find sat at the bar and started to drink away his doubts, Every single word she said wasn't entirely wrong, two months ago he spent most of a month in Mistral hunting bandits and Grimm, then after his visit with Akame he was sent to Vacuo for two weeks, then Atlas, then the wilds south of Vale, none of it made any sense, he had no objective and no proper destination, each and every time he went it was just 'go here kill Grimm', it was becoming problematic to not bring it up to Ozpin, and it was getting harder to trust him too.

"Brother." Qrow quickly looked over to Raven who was sitting next to him "Finally, I've been trying to get your attention for like five minutes."

"Really?" Qrow asked as he quickly downed his drink

"No its been a few seconds but I wanted to see your reaction. Onto pressing matters when do you want to strike Esdeath again?" Raven asked as she leaned on the bar

"We're not." Qrow answered

"'We're not.' ha okay and when are we going to? Hmm? When she wipes out another nation? Or when she turns your niece into a monster?" Raven questioned her anger clear

"WE'RE JUST NOT!" Qrow shouted as he turned to her after he calmed himself he spoke again "Just... leave me alone for now okay."

Raven looked at her brother for a few more moments then got up and left, leaving him alone to his thoughts and a crowded bar.

**(o)**

Akame had failed, she was currently sitting in a dressing room staring at a black dress with red lining, she didn't want to wear it but... Esdeath, Ruby, and Yang working together is a very scary team

"Akame whats takin' so long?" Yang called

"There aren't many options for you Akame, would you rather one of us come in there and change you." Esdeath added

"Come on Akame, its not that big of an issue I'm sure you'll look great!" Ruby called after Esdeath and Yang finished, the kind words were appreciated but they didn't help the fact that Akame wasn't comfortable wearing a dress, but if it will get them to stop she'll wear it.

**(o)**

Stepping out of the dressing room, Akame was met with gasps of surprise and awe, personally she felt extremely vulnerable and weak in a dress, but she also had a weird feeling deep in her gut that she couldn't place whenever she had a dress on

"YOU LOOK SO CUTE!" Ruby cheered and she leapt onto Akame quickly latching onto her causing her to lose balance and fall only to stop before getting too far, Esdeath caught them both

"While I'll agree Ruby, be careful not to get too severely hurt before this evening." Esdeath advised as she pulled both of them into a stable stance

"Sorry..." Ruby apologized then began to gush "But look at her! She's soo pretty!"

"Not as pretty as you, but still she is pretty." Esdeath answered causing Ruby to turn very red again and begin to babble causing Akame to shake her a bit

"Ruby? Are you okay?" Akame asked as she shook Ruby from her stupor

"NOTHING!" Ruby shouted as she released Akame and jumped away a few feet and smiled awkwardly at her

Esdeath raised an eyebrow and looked closer at Akame and spoke as she walked around her "You look like you were made to be a killer. I'd say that you would have lived a rather lucrative life if you had joined up with an assassination group like the Oarburgh." Esdeath commented

"They offered me a spot in their ranks back when I served in the empire. I denied their offers." Akame said as Esdeath continued to look her over

"Oh really? Why did you not take the offer?" Esdeath asked causing Akame to fall silent she then continued to speak "There must be a reason..." Esdeath began the wheels in her brain began to move to figure Akame out when finally something clicked and she spoke again "Were you one of the ones Gozuki sent into Gifnora Forest? Even I avoided that place. But had I know he had someone like you in the ranks of the Elite Seven well... I'd probably have taken you for myself." after Esdeath finished speaking Akame was just quietly staring at her

"His name was Gozuki?" Akame asked Esdeath was surprised by her question of all the things she could have asked about that was the question she asked

"Yes, what did he have you call him?" Esdeath answered

"Father, he treated us like we were his family, but after a while I figured out he was just using us... so-"

"So you killed him, your 'sister' Tsukushi, and took Murasame as your own leaving your sister Kurome behind to be interrogated by the empire." Esdeath finished then looked Akame dead in the eyes "I read the report, and conducted the investigation. The empire saw you as a very valuable asset doubly so due to Murasame being compatible with you. Though personally I felt that it would be better to just kill you and be done with it. Now though, I agree you are very valuable." as Esdeath finished Akame couldn't help but relive the finally moments of Tsukushi; the betrayal on her face as Akame cut her down, the fear of death, and the eventually faded look every corpse has as life left her, but Esdeath voice cut her from her thoughts "You shouldn't regret what you've done to survive and grow stronger. Be proud that the obstacles in you way never defeated you, and forget the past."

"I cant do that, my past is nothing to be proud of." Akame waved off as she reentered the dressing room and began to change trying to stop herself from falling back into the despair of her past

**(o)**

Qrow leaned on the far wall of the ballroom watching the students party and have fun

"Not having fun Qrow?" Ozpin asked leaning on the wall next to him

"Meh, our dance was way better." Qrow answered as he looked away from Ozpin

"Which one? Your first year where you and Raven started a brawl? Your second year where you and Tai dumped all the punch on Cellas' head? Your third year where Raven stabbed Tai in the hand for accidentally groping her? Or your fourth Year where you all agreed to not do anything... other than spike the punch with Bacardi 151? I still don't know where you guys got that."

"I'd go with four, its kinda hard to forget Glynda flashing the whole dance." Qrow answered paying attention to Esdeath and Ruby dancing across the ballroom

"I had completely forgotten that part." Ozpin commented in a sympathetic voice

"Hmm" Qrow hummed as he looked around

"If you're looking for Akame shes over there with Weiss." Ozpin offered Qrow looked over and followed his finger to where Akame and Weiss were sitting

"Thanks Oz." Qrow thanked as he walked past the man, leaving him standing alone

as Qrow weaved through the crowd someone bumped into him

"Oh sorry!" She apologized, she had pale skin green eyes and blood red hair, something about her looked familiar though

"Yeah." Qrow waved off as she began to walk away but he quickly turned and grabbed her wrist "Give back my scroll." the girl yelped in pain but Qrow didn't loosen his grip

"Ow ow ow ow please stop!" the girl begged, Qrow tightened his grip

"Return. What. You. Took." Qrow ordered as the girl reached into her pocket and tossed his scroll to him, which he caught opened it saw his profile pop up then closed it "Be careful not to lose a hand next time." Qrow growled and pushed her away from him as he turned and stalked away sliding both her scroll and his into his pocket

**(o)**

Esdeath and Ruby stopped to catch their breaths, both sat and watched as other couples danced and enjoyed themselves

"Esdeath? When can we leave?" Ruby whined lying on the table

"Let see, we've been here for an hour, so we can leave... about ten minutes ago." Esdeath answered causing Ruby to gasp but Esdeath beat her to the answer "Yes we can leave now." Ruby happily bounced in her seat a few times then got up and began towards the door alongside Esdeath

"General?" Ozpins' voice came "A moment of your time."

"Of course Headmaster, You are our gracious host." Esdeath agreed then turned to Ruby "I'll catch up." She and Ozpin then walked away into the crowd leaving Ruby to walk out and look around at her dream school, but something was out of place, namely a person running across the rooftops

**(o)**

Qrow sat down next to Akame who leaned on him and continued to talk with Weiss, Qrow didn't mind though, he was just trying to enjoy his time with Akame and trying to forget Esdeaths' words.

"Qrow? Weiss wanted to know, how you got to the empire." Akame said pulling him from though

"Ah... Yeah... um..." Qrow stuttered as he tried to form a sentence then pause for a moment then spoke "Shambhala had a marker in the Emerald Forest, I don't know how or why but still that's how I got there."

"Well at least I know where Ruby got her coordination from." Weiss joked "But how did it get a marker here? Can it just put down markers anywhere? And if so whats the limit?" Her line of questions continued until Akame placed her hand over Weiss's mouth and spoke

"Neither Qrow or I could answer that, only someone who has used Shambhala can, and neither of us could use it."

"That opens up a whole other can of worms like, how does compatibility work? How does a Imperial Arms choose if someone can use it?" Weiss questioned after Akame removed her hand

"I don't know, that happened almost a thousand years ago. We just benefit from the labor of the past, but I have a simple way of telling who is and isn't compatible with mine." Akame said pulling Murasame from... from somewhere, Qrow didn't care or want to know but he watched as she drew the blade and held it in front of Weiss "Describe how you perceive the blade."

"Its..." Weisss' face contorted with disgust as she looked at the blade "I cant describe how I feel, but it does make my stomach turn."

"That's answer enough." Akame replied as she sheathed Murasame and hid it once more "If you were to draw the blade, you would either end up like Glynda or die."

"Then who is compatible?" Weiss asked as she racked her brain trying to make since of it

"Myself, Qrow, and Ruby. Are the ones that I know for sure." Akame answered "A good first impression is also a contributing factor of compatibility."

"Hang on, how do you know that I'm compatible with Murasame?" Qrow asked after she stopped speaking

"I'm assuming you are, plus you didn't have a negative first impression with it." Akame explained

"First time I saw it, it was coming for my neck." Qrow shot

"First impressions are the most important, so its a good thing it memorable." Akame shot back

**(o)**

Ruby rolled to a stop and swung her blades deflecting spears of glass, Ruby grinned madly and called out

"THATS WEAK! LET ME SHOW YOU HOW ITS DONE!" Ruby snapped her fingers and half a dozen spears of ice appeared and began to fly at the intruder who struggled to dodge them causing Ruby to laugh "COME ON DOG, KEEP RUNNING! IF YOU SLOW DOWN I'LL ENJOY WATCHING YOU DROWN IN YOUR OWN BLOOD!"

The intruder seemed frightened as she jumped away and threw something on the ground sending smoke all over the room, Rubys smile faded as she began to search the room "I'll find you, and when I do... you'll beg me to kill you." Ruby spoke loudly as the elevator opened and Esdeath walked in

"Ruby I got a report that someone assaulted my men downstairs, but it looks like you took care of our intruder." Esdeath commented as she looked at the communication room that was riddled with shards of ice "Your aim could use work though."

Ruby fell to one knee and started to breath extremely heavily and held her head "I'm sorry, she got away. I failed you."

Esdeath's expression dropped at that "You didn't fail, you may have stopped them from sabotaging the network, just in case I'll have Mich do a look over of the network and remove anything too suspicious." Esdeath said "I'll talk with Ozpin about it then I'll send for you to give us as much information on her as you can, for now go get some rest. You dearly need it." with that Esdeath helped ruby into the elevator quietly lamenting that her night plans with Ruby fell through

**(o)**

"Qrow, this way." Ozpin ordered as he walked past Qrow and Akame, both got up and followed after him "I got a report that someone infiltrated the CCT."

"Do we got any idea where or who they are?" Qrow asked as they began to run

"No but we do know that they were chased out of building, I'm heading to the vault, you should scout around the CCT for anyone suspicious." Ozpin ordered and Qrow quickly shifted and flew off

"What about me?" Akame asked causing Ozpin to do a double take the fell silent for a few moments before answering

"go check the inside of the the CCT, make sure the intruder didn't double back." Ozpin finally said as they ran

"Understood." Akame agreed as she kicked off her heels and caught up to Ozpin, their night had just begun...

**A/N This chapter should be out today or next week(4) I haven't decided if I'm happy with this chapter or not, and its also not going to be super refined if it is the 28th when I release it but hey, I like consistency so I just might, we'll see. This week has been a crazy one, I've had Christmas, hooking up a new computer, completing Jedi Fallen Order in two days on grandmaster difficultly(Hurting my hand because of that, yes I have no life.) and more family time then I could ever want or need so I was kinda spooked that I might not be able to get this out in time, I probably am still spooked that I might not get it out in time, but hey these things happen so we just gotta do what we do best and power through. Now for editing at 9:05 PM... yay.**


	8. Kill the White Fang Part 1

Akame knocked on team RWBY's dorm door, and waited for a response a few moments later the door opened revealing Ruby who looked a bit disheveled but smiled warmly

"Hey Akame, whats up?" Ruby asked as she straightened out her hair

"Qrow sent me a text and told me to get you and for us to go to Ozpins' office." Akame answered as she straightened her tie "Most likely because were involved with what happened last night."

"Yeah, Esdeath told me about that last night, I hope we don't end up in trouble." Ruby said as she exited the room and shut the door behind her

"I doubt we would end up in trouble for aiding in an investigation." Akame waved off as they began to walk down the hallway Akame noticed something "Ruby is that an Insignia?"

"Yeah, I figured if Esdeath wanted me to be in her army I'd at least wear the Insignia she gave me." Ruby answered "But I have no idea how to actually put them on properly." Akame let out a sigh stopped and stopped Ruby too then began to fiddle with the insignia on Rubys shoulders

"You had them on backwards." Akame said after she finished causing Ruby to blush a bit

"Sorry, I've never been in something so official before." Ruby apologized as they continued walking "So... what did you do over that week that you were... you know... criminalized?" Ruby asked as they walked

**(\\_/)**

_Just before they could throw her from the ship Akame grabbed the wrist of one of the solders holding her yanking him off with her she drew his pistol shot him, and then fired back at the other who dodged the shot, flipping over she used the corpse to try and slow her decent and cushion her fall. _

_Akame struggled to move, the pain was nearly unbearable she felt like every bone in her body was broken and what didn't help was how scared for RWBY she was, the forest was teeming with Grimm and that despair would lead them right to her, hearing the growl coming from just about every direction she pushed herself to rise to her knees if she was going to die she didn't want to be lying on her stomach waiting for death to claim her. Rising to her knees Akame looked around blood red eyes were gazing at her from every direction, looking down at the soldier she reached to his boot and drew his combat knife, pushing herself again she stood and waited and listened for any attacking creatures, seconds after she heard movement a portal opened and Raven dropped out of it_

"_What the hell happened kid?" Raven asked as she cut down the Beowolf_

"_Esdeath... here..." Akame answered then everything went black_

**(o)**

"It was an abnormal day here, but a pretty normal day for someone in the empire." Akame answered as they entered the CCT

"Is... is that bad?" Ruby asked as they walked towards the elevator

"Very close to death, but not too bad." Akame explained causing Ruby a few feelings of guilt

"I'm so sorry." Ruby apologized her voice was a little shaky like she was on the verge of tears

"Think nothing of it, Qrow nearly died twice in the empire. So I have one more near death experience before you have to feel bad." Akame joked causing Ruby to chuckle a bit and wipe her eyes as Akame pressed one of the buttons in the elevator

"You know your humor sounds just like Uncle Qrows'." Ruby commented after the door shut

"He did unlock my Aura, so I'm bound to start to sound like him sooner or later." Akame said as the elevator began to move and she grabbed onto Ruby

"Whats up? Do you not like elevators?" Ruby asked feeling a bit like their roles didn't suit either of them

"I don't trust a large metal box connected to a string going up an impossible height." Akame answered calmly "That and motion sickness."

"You and Jaune... but yours seems way worse than his."

"I've never ridden in a car or bullhead before, so my body isn't used to the motion." Akame explained as the elevator slowed to a stop and she released her

before they entered the could hear shouting, they couldn't tell who until the door opened

"WE CANT JUST SIT BACK AND DO NOTHING OZPIN!" Ironwood shouted at Ozpin who was massaging his eyes

"For once I agree with James. We have to act." Qrow added causing Glynda to look surprised

"What is going on here? I know you would never side with James on any occasion." Glynda asked as Ironwood looked Qrow in surprise

"I got Akame to think about now, I'm not gonna risk so much on Oz feeling we should keep this under raps." Qrow answered, before Ruby or Akame could enter Esdeath held her arm out signaling for them to stop

"See even Qrow agrees with me, so are we going to act or what?" James asked turning back towards Ozpin

"What do you want me to do? I'm trying to make sure this years Vytal festival goes of without any panic or any issues." Ozpin finally answered

"Then let Esdeath take RWBY and Akame on her mission, its a solid plan. They will be the only ones who." Ironwood said staring Ozpin dead in the eyes

"If we let her do that then she'll involve all five of them with our war on Salem." Ozpin shouted letting his anger out as he quickly stood

Esdeath grinned at that and lowered her arm letting them enter the office "No, I believe that's on you Ozpin." Esdeath said drawing all their attention to her, Akame, and Ruby

Ozpin looked like he was about to say something but sat back down and closed his eyes, after a few seconds of steady breathing he reopened them and spoke in a calm tone "We can deal with this later, for now can you two recall the events of last night for us." Akame looked to Ruby then nodded

Ruby stepped forward and spoke "My night progressed as normal, me and Esdeath enjoyed the dance then as we were leaving you asked to speak with her, so I went outside to wait, mainly because I don't like how stuffy the ballroom is, anyways I saw a woman running along the rooftops of the classrooms across from the ballroom so I followed her, until I reached the CCT where I found a few solders who were knocked out, so I began to search after sending an alert, I took the elevator to the previously selected floor and it brought me to the communication room, where I found her on one of the computers there, so I did what I though anyone else in my position would do and attacked, but she escaped."

"I will say while I don't agree with Esdeaths' choice of placing you in indentured servitude I will say you fill your rank very well." Ironwood complemented with a neutral expression

"Thank you, Reichsmarschall." Ruby thanked causing Esdeath to grin at her then turned to Akame and spoke

"Akame, your account."

"I was only involved in the search for them after Rubys' encounter. But thinking back to the ballroom, I can account multiple pieces of suspicious activity, none of it correlates to the attack though so its unnecessary information, Ozpin stationed me in the CCT to wait and see if the enemy came back, none did. I have nothing else to add." Akame said with a robotic tone

"Every little bit helps, but I can see now that stationing you inside the CCT was pointless, and I apologize for that failing." Ozpin apologized as he pulled up a map of the school with hundreds of red lines leading from the CCT, all the ones looping back to it vanished and then all the ones leading from points apart from the roof tops near the ballroom vanished too leaving about forty left "This is the best prediction we have, for their route."

"What if they looped back to the dance?" Akame asked looking at the holographic map in curiosity

"If they were in combat clothes then they would stick out like a sore thumb." Ozpin waved off

"I know that, but its a common practice for assassins and thieves alike to hide their gear under things like jackets, cloaks, dresses, and the like, I had Murasame and Muranohi on me all night." Akame explained "I have them on me now too." She demonstrated that fact by reaching behind herself and drew both then from under her coat then dropped it and turned around showing the sheaths resting in an X on her back

"So you believe that they escaped, changed cloths, then hid in the dance. Correct?" Ozpin elaborated causing Akame to nod

"Or maybe it was the other way around." Ruby said as she racked her brain to explain "Look at it this way, she hid her dress under her combat clothes then used embedded dust to burn them away leaving no evidence and almost changing her appearance completely."

"That actually makes sense, but hardly anyone embeds dust in clothing anymore, how'd you know about that?" Ironwood asked as he processed that information

"I don't know... Esdeath?" Ruby pushed the question to her

"I studied up on that while I was in Atlas academy, it was a fascinating prospect for a while but it quickly grew stale when I learned that it wouldn't effect my semblance, so I dropped it." Esdeath answered "It seems our bond is growing stronger if you're already pulling such meaningless information subconsciously."

"It doesn't really feel that special if its meaningless." Ruby replied

"That's actually very useful for us right now, assuming that they followed Akames' ruling that makes our investigation harder." Ozpin said "But that just means that it narrows down our targets. All we have to look for is someone who knows dust weaving and showed up late to the dance, while that doesn't make it much easier it does make it a little easier."

"So who's Salem?" Ruby asked causing everyone to fall silent and divert their eyes from her, Except Esdeath who turned to Ozpin

"Yes, why don't you answer that fascinating question for us Ozpin." Esdeath asked smiling at him

"That information is unimportant. I request that you keep it and everything else discussed here private." Ozpin avoided causing Esdeaths' smile to fade into a scowl

"Alright professor..." Ruby agreed but seemed very concerned that he was asking her to keep secrets

"Thank you, you two may leave. We have... many other subjects to discuss." Ozpin said after the two turned and began towards the elevator his gaze turned to a glare which was directed at Esdeath

**(o)**

After the elevator door shut Ruby let out a sigh and sat down on the ground

"That was so horrible I felt like everyone was judging me." Ruby vented as she panted

"Don't worry about it too much, they just wanted the information we could provide if they were asking for things we couldn't then your reaction would make more sense." Akame calmed as she sat down next to Ruby

"Last night I... I might have... acted like Esdeath a bit." Ruby said after a few minutes of quiet

"What do you mean?" Akame asked as she rapped her arm around Ruby

"I... I _wanted_ to see that woman bleed, I _wanted_ to kill her, I _wanted_ to watch her die for trying to tamper with _my_ school. She was trying to destroy everything I have ever wanted. So I let my instincts take over." Ruby explained she seemed to have taken what she said very personally but didn't entirely regret it

"It doesn't matter so long as you don't let your bloodlust control you like Esdeath does." Akame comforted pulling Ruby to lean on her "We'll go get you something to eat, that's what usually makes me feel better."

"Can it not be meat this time? Can we go get something like ice cream?" Ruby asked as they sat in the now stationary elevator

"Of course, I don't just eat meat." Akame agreed

"Your eating habits over the past two and a half months would disagree." Ruby joked Akame just hummed in agreement

"So do you want to get out of the elevator or would you rather we stay here?" Akame asked after a few moments of comfortable silence

"We should go prepare for our missions, we should be able to pick them out today." Ruby finally said as she stood quickly followed by Akame

"Yeah..." Akame quietly said seeming sad for some reason

"Is something wrong?" Ruby asked Akame quickly shook her head

"No its nothing, you are right though, we should prepare." Akame agreed and began towards their dorms to gather their gear

**(o)**

Weiss was standing outside of Akames' dorm waiting for them, which was confusing considering she just got out of the infirmary and spent most of her time sleeping, Walking up to her Ruby waved and smiled, Weiss ignored her in favor of lifting up a notebook and spoke

"Akame we need to talk." Akame looked at the object and nodded then entered her room swiftly followed by Weiss while Ruby reentered her room

"What do you want to talk about?" Akame asked after they entered the room

"This notebook, I have three others that I got from in here." Weiss answered as she placed the book down on the desk

"to my knowledge it's not mine." Akame answered only taking one look at it

"Are you sure? 'Cause this is your handwriting." Weiss said again opening it

"I carry all my notebooks on me, at all times." Akame said as she reached into her coat pockets and drew out multiple notebooks at a time, began to count them, she then spoke "Two are missing, one would be the one containing my past, the other is combat issues I saw in each of you, and how I planned to fix them."

"Are you kidding me! I THOUGHT YOU WERE PLANING TO KILL US!" Weiss shouted "THE WAY YOU WROTE THAT I-" Akame chopped Weiss on the head causing her to stop

"Don't be stupid, you are my family, and I'd never do anything to cause you pain." Akame scolded "But I agree, I could have written better."

**(o)**

Qrow leaned back on the window watching at everyone but him and Esdeath shouted at each other trying to get the others to listen to them, zoning out Qrow let his eyes shut and the shouts vanish from his mind, the shouting was replaced by Esdeaths voice though, and it wasn't any better

"_I could go on and on about how bad of a leader Ozpin is... I saw the glares you were throwing at him. You aren't happy with him, are you... if I wasn't here what do you think Ozpin would do about the White Fang? **Nothing**... I know whats running through your head right now... Esdeath was right the whole time..." _Qrow reopened his eyes his vision locked onto Esdeath who was leaning on the opposite side of the room, she was watching him with what seemed to be a satisfied look on her face, like she was reading his mind

"Yeah... I'm done here." Qrow said breaking his stare from Esdeath and drew all attention to him

"_We're_ not done here." Ironwood said turning to him causing Qrow to scoff

"Yeah, I can tell. How 'bout you guys start talking instead of yelling about nothing, I'm done, I got other work I need to do." Qrow snarked as he entered the elevator

"I have to agree, while I'd love to stand here and listen to this argument, it is of little concern to me. I have a team of specialists waiting to be briefed on their mission anyways." Esdeath added entering the elevator too much to Qrows dismay, but he hid it as well as he could

"General." Ironwoods voice came before the door shut "I will trust your judgment on taking that team on a mission, their leader seems to be very capable. Don't let any of them die."

"I won't, Reichsmarschall." Esdeath agreed she then pressed the button on the elevator wall causing the door to shut, Qrow leaned on the wall of the elevator preparing to try and ignore Esdeaths' words again

"I can tell you've given what I said some thought, as I said I'm done trying to convince you, but I'm just glad that you're keeping an open mind when it comes to your future." Esdeath said leaning next to him "So I'm assuming you'll be following us on our mission."

"That's what Oz asked me to do." Qrow answered neutrally doing his best impression of Akame and keeping his expression completely unreadable

"Hmm, if you want to come just say the word. Akame is already tagging along due to her spot as leader of Rubys' squad." Esdeath said after a few moments of thought, Qrow wanted to agree but that would give her an in, and he really didn't want to do that, but he really wanted to go on another mission with Akame, he had forgotten what it was like having a partner. Qrow silently looked away from Esdeath who shrugged "It would be preferred to have seven of us, but it doesn't really matter to me who comes and who doesn't. But just so you know, we'll be leaving in forty-five minutes." she then exited the elevator and walked away, Qrow exited the elevator too but walked in the opposite direction planing to transform and fly to Akames' room

**(o)**

Esdeath knocked on the door to Rubys' dorm and waited patiently for it to open, after a few second it did thanks to Blake who looked frightened for a few seconds

"Whats wrong Blake? You seem... frightened." Esdeath asked warmly causing Blake to step away from her, one of the things Esdeath found the most amusing was how faunus had such a hard time remaining composed near her, it was primarily because their instincts told them to flee from her, so she enjoyed watching then struggle from time to time "You have no reason to fear me, so long as you stick around I will have no reason to hunt you. So calm yourself and steel your nerves."

That didn't seem to help Blake at all but she did try to calm herself "If you want to come in Ruby is showering." Esdeath immediately took the invitation and entered the room, her eyes jumping from Blake to Yang then finally Weiss

"Oh goodie... To what do we owe this unwelcome visit?" Yang snarked glaring at the woman

"You owe it to your mission." Esdeath answered smiling warmly at Yang who growled at her

"So were you planing on brainwashing all of us or just Ruby?" Yang asked trying to get a rise out of Esdeath but failed

"Actually no, I had no hand in that. Just because William wants to live out all her perverted fantasies on you doesn't mean I wanted her to touch Ruby, quiet the opposite actually, I would cut her eyes out myself if she tried." Esdeath responded calmly

"Okay but why would you employ someone like her?" Yang asked glaring at her

"So I can have solders act on more morally flexible orders." Esdeath answered "Example, Yang I order you to punch Blake in the gut at hard as you can."

Yang didn't more she just scoffed "Not happening Ice Queen."

"Precisely, Yang your master orders you to strike Blake." Yang seemed to have a very difficult time not acting on the orders, given the fact she fell off her bed and punched the floor instead "Disregard that order. I'll guess that yours started somewhere around the time you all were allowed to wander the ship last week."

"Shut up you bitch!" Yang shouted as she stood and swung at Esdeath who easily dodged the strike

"Yang stop." Weiss said turning from her school work to watch "You're not going to be able to hit her."

"You should listen to her." Esdeath agreed as she easily dodged all the attacks

"STOP DODGING THEN!" Yang shouted, Esdeath complied and caught both of Yangs' fists and smiled at her

"Very well, lets try another command shall we?" Esdeath asked grinning at Yang who was trying to break free from Esdeath grasp until Esdeath spoke again "Yang your master orders you to freeze." Yang stopped struggling but she also completely stopped moving entirely, Esdeath released her and stepped back looking her up and down "You may move again." Esdeath said after almost a minute and Yang collapsed then swiftly crawled away from Esdeath as she tried to breath "Sorry, I completely forgot that you cant breath like that." Esdeath apologized, she seemed to actually be sorry for what happened

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Yang tried to shout through coughs

"I was just having a bit of fun, normally I'd remember that issue... I guess it just slipped my mind." Esdeath apologized again her expression dropping

**(o)**

Akame, lightly wiped away the last of the excess polish off of Muranohi, her attention was quickly caught by a light tapping on her window turning to it she saw a crow sitting on the ledge next to her window, sheathing the blade she stood and opened the window, the crow flew in and transformed into Qrow

"Hey kiddo, doin' some maintenance?" Qrow asked as he sat down on her bed

"Yeah, I have a mission coming up so I figured it'd be a good idea to prepare." Akame said as she drew Murasame and looked at the blade as she stared into the blade she spoke in what seemed like a distant "I don't know how to feel to be honest with you. I miss Mine and Najenda, but I also know that they are probably doing better off without me there, I just wish I could see them again."

"You're feeling home sick." Qrow said Akame nodded in agreement "Do... you regret coming here?" Qrow asked carefully

"No, just because I miss them doesn't me I believe this choice was a mistake." Akame answered almost instantly and pulled Qrow into a hug which he returned swiftly

"Alright, I just wanted to make sure. Anyways, me and Esdeath talked and apparently she wants to bring you along on her little mission to the South-East. She also offered me a spot, but I didn't give her an answer." Qrow explained after a few comfortable moments of quiet

"I say you come, I'd like to have someone I can truly rely on to watch my back." Akame said looking him dead in the eyes

"The rest of team RWBY are going too you know." Qrow said causing Akame to nod

"I know, but do you really trust them to be able to take on Esdeath?" Akame asked causing Qrow to sigh in defeat, to be honest that thought didn't even cross his mind, it should have though.

"Alright, I'll tag along." Qrow agreed causing Akame unknown amounts of joy, it may have been only a few days since they last fought together but she missed it

**(o)**

RWBY and Esdeath were standing on the landing pad waiting for the Manta to refuel

Ruby watched as Yang continued to throw glares at Esdeath it was starting to concern her so she decided to speak

"Yang? Cant you just drop it?" Ruby asked causing Yangs glare to go from Esdeath to her

"She nearly killed me and you want me to let it go! Whats gotten into you!?" Yang snapped but Ruby held firm

"She apologized! That means that she really meant it! I'm just saying you should take what you can get and trust Esdeaths' judgment, shes a lot smarter than she acts." Ruby ranted to Yang who just scoffed and went back to glaring at Esdeath

"Yo, we're here." Qrows voice came surprising Ruby who quickly turned to see both him and Akame

"Uncle Qrow! Are you coming too?" Ruby happily asked practically bouncing over to him

Qrow looked to Esdeath who smiled at him he rolled his eyes and spoke "Yeah, gotta show you all how a real huntsman works."

"Just how many combat professions have you had? Huntsman, assassin, bandit, soldier, anything else?" Esdeath asked causing confusion to cross all of team RWBYs faces

"Yeah, I don't remember being a soldier." Qrow said also confused by her statement

"Yeah, you killed Daidara and became one of my beasts." Esdeath answered "Quiet a shame that you didn't stay that way."

"I disagree, I'm rather glad I didn't continue working for you. I got to meet a bunch of people I got along with way better than your lot." Qrow denied

"You punched Chelsea through a door." Akame said immediately after Qrow finished

"Not helping kid, besides I apologized." Qrow followed instantly after she finished

"Two days later causing me to worry." Akame followed him calmly and quickly

"What do you want me to buy you dinner as an apology?" Qrow asked just as quickly

"Yes." Akame answered instantly causing Qrow to sigh then spoke

"Well my plans for after this is done have been filled."

"Speaking of filled, the ships ready to go." Esdeath said and began towards the Manta quickly followed by everyone else

**(o)**

As the Manta flew Esdeath began to brief them on the mission

"Now then, we'll be dropping into Mountain Glenn, the failed expansion of Vale, now then were searching for a White Fang base of operations, for this area, I was planing for us to take the metro there instead of flight, but all the entrances were sealed off so our only entrances into the underground is from the surface in the expansion."

"I saw the reports from scout drones sent out, I saw at least three points that lead to the metro from Mountain Glenn, I don't know if they are unblocked or caved in, but that's all I've notice." Qrow added, leaning back in his seat and rubbed Akames' back while she struggled to handle her motion sickness

"That's very useful, thank you Qrow." Esdeath thanked "Right so we'll split into teams, to check each one. Qrow and Akame will take one, RWBY will take another and I'll take one."

"Or I can go with you." Ruby offered after Esdeath finished

"I'm sure it would fairer, but we're looking for efficiency, not fairness. If your entrance it clear alert the other two teams, if not, inform the others that its blocked." Esdeath responded "Is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." RWB said "Yeah" Yang said "Mhm" Qrow affirmed "Ugh" Akame groaned

"Good." Esdeath said with a grin

**(o)**

Dropping from the Manta Qrow looked around and saw no Grimm, Esdeath and Akame landed on either side of him did the same RWBY jumped out and checked their flank, nothing

"Clear." Qrow said

"Clear" Ruby replied and they all relaxed, Qrow put Harbinger back on his belt and Akame returned Murasame to its sheath, Esdeath followed suit and sheathed her blade too, RWBY watched them all relax and start walking off towards the ruins

"Keep up you four, if you get lost it'll be a pain to search for you." Qrow called back to them casually, causing them to all quickly catch up

"I thought we had to be as quiet as possible when out here." Ruby commented after they caught up

"'course, in certain places, the Emerald forest, Dooie Sand south of Vacuo, Erfrierungen Grat north of Atlas, and Chimamire no iwayama far south of Mistarl, those four places are the most well known hives of grimm activity, if you ever walk into them thats when you gotta stay as quiet as you possibly can." Qrow explained "But here the only thing that'll get you found out is huge amounts of negativity."

"Oh, that makes sense. Have you ever been in any of those areas?" Ruby asked causing Qrow to laugh dryly

"Yeah, all of them, I probably have the highest kill count in all those areas... and probably the highest survival rate too." Qrow said dryly

"I'd contest you on Erfrierungen Grat I've spent a good deal of time there, and whipped quiet a number of hordes out there." Esdeath said causing Qrow to roll his eyes

"Yeah, I bet you have." Qrow rolled his eyes "Alright you get Erfrierungen."

"Good." Esdeath agreed as they reached a crossroads "Here's where we separate. Inform the rest of us when you reach your entry point." everyone quickly began to make their ways towards their objective

**(o)**

Qrow slid down the side of a broken pillar and looked around then down at his scroll, Akame slid down next to him and looked at all the buildings

"What happened here?" Akame asked looking at the broken buildings and streets

"Grimm; the 'expansion of Vale project' happened about fifteen years ago, the idea was expanding into the mountains where Grimm have a hard time reaching and having a metro system leading between here and Vale, it work for about a year, then... then everything went to shit. The Grimm attacks became unbearable, they happened almost every night and day, it stressed the people out to no end, then a massive horde showed up and over ran the surface forcing them under ground into the metro where they expanded again into an underground civilization, where they lasted for another seven months, as they expanded again they opened up into a cave full of Grimm, no huntsman were in the city at the time, it was a slaughter. We, team STRQ, were the first huntsman to arrive after that happened..." Qrow explained he had a distant look in his eyes after he finished before quickly snapping out of it "Sorry, this place is just full of ghosts."

"Don't worry about it, I just hope it doesn't effect you on this mission." Akame said as she placed her hand on his shoulder

"Nah the worst of its probably over now. Lets just get moving." Qrow said and looked back at his scroll and spoke "We gotta, take a left up here then there should be a collapsed building that we gotta climb over then it should be in the middle of the road."

"Its a good thing ours is close." Akame commented as they continued to walk

**(o)**

"I spy with my little eye... something... blue!" Ruby said looking around

"Is it the sky?" Yang asked also looking around

"Nope!" Ruby answered

"that traffic sign?" Yang asked looking closer at the environment

"That's two wrong! You got one left." Ruby taunted happily causing Yang to growl

"That car!?" Yang shouted

"Nope! It was weisss' dust cartage. On the side of Myrtenaster." Ruby answered happily

"How could you even see that!" Yang asked clearly outraged

"Remember earlier when I was looking around, I caught a brief hint of it." Ruby answered

"Can you two stop talking for five seconds?" Weiss asked

"You don't gotta worry too much Weiss, remember I got Demons' Extract. Anything that tries to hurt us will be greeted with a brutal and painful death." Ruby happily waved off "So relax."

"I somehow find it harder when you say it like that, you sound almost exactly like Esdeath when you do." Weiss shot causing Ruby to sigh

"And so what if I do? I'm just saying you should loosen up a bit, leave my mentality out of this." Ruby said

"Is that really a good thing though? You sounding like Esdeath I mean." Blake added and Ruby turned to her and began to walk backwards

"I don't know if I like it or not yet but all I know is that's linking with her has made my life both in and out of school so much easier." Ruby countered

"But is that a good thing? What if shes not telling you something about her semblance, what if its like Mas... we need to come up with a way to call her something universal." Blake asked

"Give it enough time and I will know, her memories and mine are constantly melting together that's how I've gotten so good with classwork and homework, its not that bad. Besides we're all strong enough to survive. So I'm not worried about this mission." Ruby explained as they came to a stop near a manhole cover

"Is this it?" Yang asked looking at the cover

"Yep" Ruby confirmed and crouched down and placed her hand on it quickly ice formed on her hand and the cover, Ruby then lifted her hand and the cover, revealing a ladder going down into darkness

"So does that mean its open?" Yang asked

"It might be caved in lower down." Blake said causing Yang to sigh

"Cant anything ever be easy?" Yang asked no one in particular

"Where would the fun be then?" Ruby asked causing Yang to hum in agreement

**(o)**

Esdeath ducked under a slash from a Beowolf and stabbed upward with her blade killing the beast she sighed and spoke to herself

"fourteen."

Walking towards her objective she looked around at the open area and walked up to the manhole cover, placing her hand on it and a thick layer of ice formed on both her hand and the cover, lifting her hand and subsequently the cover she looked down it and saw dirt and rubble, withdrawing her scroll after dropping the cover she typed out

[Blocked]

Next came Qrows message [Blocked]

finally Rubys [Open]

Esdeath sighed [Regroup at Rubys position.]

[Confirmed] Qrow messaged

[Holding position.] Ruby messaged

She then lowered her scroll and began towards Rubys' position

**(o)**

RWBY, Akame, and Qrow sat waiting for Esdeath to arrive

"I spy with my little eye... something...gray." Ruby said

"The back of that stop sign two streets away from us." Akame answered as she watched Qrow preform minor maintenance on Harbinger

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT!?" Ruby shouted completely outraged

"Your eyes, they stayed over there for slightly longer than normal, and then you waited another few moments letting your eyes drift across the rest of the scenery." Akame explained calmly

"But you weren't watching me! You were watching Uncle Qrow!" Ruby continued her outrage

"I can multitask." Akame answered

"So are we going to get down there or..." Esdeaths' voice came from behind them

"Yeah, just finishing." Qrow said pulled the trigger on harbinger a few times causing it to extend and sheath itself before placing it on his belt "I'm ready."

"Good, how far ahead did you scout Ruby?" Esdeath asked turning her attention to Ruby

"We went down to the bottom it blocked but there is a maintenance access hatch above it that we can get though." Ruby answered

"Right, Akame and Blake will lead followed by Yang, myself, and Ruby, then finally Qrow." Esdeath said

"Why does Qrow have to bring up the rear? Why cant he lead?" Yang asked glaring at Esdeath still

"Its 'cause Harbinger is good for open areas, enclosed spaces, not so much. But I can still kick ass bare handed." Qrow said as everyone else got up

"You'll have to show me sometime." Esdeath said as she began down the ladder

"Me too cause dad said your hand to hand is shit." Yang called up from the ladder

"He only said that cause I kicked his ass... so did Raven... and Summer. Lets just say Tai wasn't good at fighting until he was an actually huntsman." Qrow said as he slid the manhole cover back on above them bathing them all in darkness

**(o)**

Exiting the maintenance shaft they got the view of a massive city that looked similar to Vale except completely ruined

"Well the future looks great doesn't it Qrow?" Esdeath asked looking out over the city

"Sure it does, anyways we should move. You're gonna have to have a long talk with them after this is done anyways." Qrow said causing Esdeaths' gaze to jump from the ruins to Qrow who stepped off the ledge and vanished into the darkness

"Esdeath, where's Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked jogging up to her

"He's gone to scout ahead." Esdeath answered her excitement for the future growing as she spoke again "We should get off this building, we have much work to do." Esdeath then turned and began towards the fire escape on he side of the building

**A/N These past few chapters have been pretty long in comparison to all the other chapters I have written and with good reason... which I will tell you when I figure it out, I'll be honest I just kinda started writing and didn't stop until I was happy, that and I wanted to make sure that I fit everything I wanted to in each chapter. It should be mentioned that recently I've been thinking of a story that's not related to Crow of Night Raid in any fashion, but its still related to RWBY. It wont be replacing Assassin of Beacon, but it will be released at some point 'cause I don't really know if I'll be happy with it or not, so I cant really pin point a date. But I will say that you can thank Fallen Order for it.**


	9. Kill the White Fang Part 2

**A/N Here we go again, and if you're wonder about the other thing I'm working that doesn't have a title yet, its going fine just trying to figure out how to get where I want it to be right now.**

Qrow landed on a roof not far from the old metro entrance to the city and watched as White Fang grunts moved huge containers of dust with Atlas mechs' and worked on the rails

"Will, get some guys and get that bomb onto the train." one of the foremen shouted

"Yes sir." Will responded and ran off to get some guys, Qrow looked down at the bomb, it was obviously a makeshift explosive it had a bit of professionalism to it but all in all it was kinda crap, flapping his wings he flew off to check the perimeter they had set

**(o)**

"So... whats the plan?" Ruby asked as they made their way down the fire escape which groaned with each movement of the six

"We'll we get to the bottom here, then wait for Qrow to report back with the information on their fortifications, then myself, Qrow, and Yang attack their fortifications while you, Akame, Weiss, and Blake sneak behind their lines and attack from there too, that will destroy their defenses and cause panic if we move fast enough." Esdeath explained as her footing creaked

"Right, so we we divide up the teams in a way that will allow us to move as quickly as possible right?" Weiss asked as she dodged a hole in her path

"No, me Qrow and Yang are good at making a lot of noise when needed, I'm sending Akame with you all so just in case we get slogged down she can run ahead and kill their leader, and put a stop to whatever their doing." Esdeath corrected as they moved

"I should mention I don't think were all completely comfortable killing yet." Blake added causing Esdeath slight pause

"I've hear that the first time is difficult for some people, All you have to do is remember why you fight and that should be more than enough to guide your blade." Akame said earning the attention of everyone even Esdeath "I fight for a world that will never have to know violence, my unobtainable dream." Akame added

Esdeath caught onto what she was doing and added her two cents "I fight to prove that the strong are born from a world of war, my _obtainable_ dream" Esdeath said glaring at Akame who greeted it in kind

"I want to protect everyone I care about, and to end everyone who would dare to hurt them... my hopeful dream? Did I do that right?" Ruby said earning looks from everyone as she awkwardly scratched her head

"The rest of you? What do you fight for?" Akame asked turning to them

"I fight to prove that my father isn't what a Schnee is." Weiss answered her voice holding her conviction

"Oh how nice Weiss, Jacques has tried to get me to be his personal attack dog multiple times, sadly for him he doesn't have the same pull that the minister had, so I let him know just how fruitless his efforts were in the best way possible..." Esdeath happily reminisced

"What did you do?" Weiss asked fearing her answer Esdeath smiled and spoke in feigned sadness "I froze his entire office space and servers causing him to lose out all the profit that he could have made in the amount of time it was frozen... so three months."

"So you literally froze his accounts." Yang asked with a genuine laugh, her expression changing from a glare for the first time since they got there

"Yes I did, whats so funny about that?" Esdeath asked as she raised an eyebrow

"Aw come on you _froze_ his accounts, how do you not find that funny!?" Yang asked as she began to laugh

"Hey, I'm back." Qrows voice came as he jumped off a bit of debris and began towards them

"What did you find Qrow?" Esdeath asked as he walked up to them

"They got a very weak perimeter and are loading makeshift explosives onto a train, heading towards Vale, given that's the only place the tracks link up to." Qrow explained as he leaned on a broke light post

"That's strange, what fortifications do they have for their perimeter?" Esdeath asked as she crossed her arms

"A chain link fence, and one guard per gate." Qrow answered again causing Esdeath to let out a laugh

"Are you kidding? That's nothing. Did you find any weak link in their... defenses?... besides the whole thing." Esdeath asked again trying to hold back her laughter

"There's a collapsed building that they assume is impassable so they don't have patrols going through it, all you need is nimble footing and a good jump to get through there unnoticed but one issue I have found are the Atlesian paladins they got movin' around." Qrow answered again then turned to everyone but Esdeath and Akame "If you cant cut through metal raise you hands." Weiss and Yang raised their hands, Blake spoke

"I can cut though metal but I cant cut deep enough to cause any major damage."

"That's fine, just aim for the joints and you'll take'em down." Qrow advised then turned back to Esdeath "So, whats the plan?"

"Me, you, and Yang, attack the front, instead of doing a quick pincer maneuver, while were making noise, Akame will attack at their leader, and the rest of team RWBY will wait for their forces to come at us with enough time well encircle them and crush their resistance." Esdeath clarified "If the train does start moving, I want Qrow and Akame to go hop on the train and stop it by any means necessary." Esdeath clarified getting nods from Qrow and Akame "Good, now lets move."

**(o)**

"Hey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're-" A long shard of ice ended the conversation between the two guards ending both of their lives

"I thought you said that there would only be one." Esdeath shot

"Don't look at me, maybe they were having a pointless conversation about their purpose in the universe." Qrow shot back as he drew harbinger and turned to Yang "You should take down the gate, it'd be much louder that way."

Yang tore her eyes from the the two soldiers and nodded, Qrow placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke

"I get it kid, hold it in until the missions over, then let it out." Qrow said Yang quickly nodded and pushed down her disgust and ran over to the gate

"Do you really think shes prepared for this?" Esdeath whispered to him

"No, she doesn't have a convection as strong as Ruby, Akame, you, or me but I think she can pull through." Qrow whispered back then after a few moments he whispered again "This might hurt her, but it wont break her." Esdeath nodded then spoke

"Lets get moving then."

Esdeath began to walk towards the now broken open gate alongside Qrow, Yang was still staring at the corpse but was broken from it by Qrow pulling her along

"I heard a noise from over there, it might be Grimm get the mechs out!" A voice shouted

"Good work Yang, keep making all that noise and we'll have an army charging us in no time." Esdeath complemented as she drew her blade

"Umm... can we really handle that?" Yang asked as she began to get cold feet

"Don't worry Yang, it took a larger force than this, plus me, Raven, and Najenda to kill Esdeath, last time. That was after me and Raven wore her down too, lets just say the odds are tipped against them right now." Qrow casually waved off as he drew Harbinger

"That actually makes me more scared of her than these guys." Yang commented as she readied Ember Celica

"Welcome to the club." Qrow agreed as two paladins turned the corner quickly followed by a large group of White Fang grunts

**(o)**

Akame watched as Qrow and Esdeath began to tear apart the forces sent at them calling for more and more soldiers to come, the plan was moving along as Esdeath had predicted, a crackle from a speaker system drew everyone's attention

"Ladies and gentlemen, our cargo is loaded and we're leaving early. Get to your places now or be left behind!" Romans voice came from the speaker

"Its time for me to move, good luck." Akame quickly said to RWB and took off towards the train soon joined by Qrow

"Hey kid, inside the train or on top?" Qrow asked as they ran

"Both would be preferred, but it would be better if we get to the front quickly, stop the train then made our way towards the back." Akame answered earning a nod from Qrow as they leapt onto the back of the train and pulled themselves onto it

"Right, Vale is roughly ten-ish minutes from here by train, so we should hurry." Qrow said and leapt up and grabbed onto the roof and swung back forcing the door off the hinges, Akame quickly entered the back compartment of the train and found it empty apart from a bomb at the center

"Bomb, next compartment." Akame said and rushed to the next door knocking it open only to find the same situation as the last, Qrow ran to the next door, same thing.

"Akame, lets move up top, I don't think there are bombs here for no reason." Qrow said as he climbed up top just as an explosion could be heard behind them, turning around he saw the last compartment was released and exploded, Akame saw the same with the car right behind the one they were on

"They must be planing to bomb the city." Akame predicted as she turned towards the front of the train "Qrow, contact."

Turning around Qrow transformed Harbinger "I got them, you head up to the front. No one here could pose much of a threat to you." Qrow then vanished into thin air but the screams of the people he was slaughtering were a good indication of where he went, rushing forward Akame dived over one of his strikes and ran through a gap in the lines that formed to try and kill Qrow, once she stopped the train she would have no problem coming back and helping Qrow

**(o)**

running over compartment after compartment she was nearing the front, diving down and rolling through a door she was greeted by a man holding a large chainsaw blade

"He said someone might make it this far." the man growled "Too bad it was only a child." he then started the blade and began to walking towards Akame who rushed towards him diving back and forth from one side of the train to the other, he swung trying to cover the whole area of where he had seen her just as she planed, barely diving above the strike she sliced at his throat breaking his aura, landing she sliced downward leaving a deep cut along his entire body, a second later he collapsed, rushing to the next compartment she was greeted by two people, Roman Torchwick and his (Delicious looking) assistant

"Well if it isn't my favorite assassin, some how I knew you'd be here." Roman commented lightly, but he clearly wasn't taking her as lightly, his stance was completely on the defensive, but his assistant was prepared to attack "You know, after our first meeting you really gave me a shock, I didn't know anyone could break aura in a single hit, but I did know that you're a cold blooded one. You got a look like Neo here."

Akame knew he was staling for time so she rushed forward and attacked, her strike was blocked by Roman and countered by Neo, Akame dodged the counter and rolled away from them trying to find an opening, she saw none. Carefully moving around them she moved like a wolf stalking it prey, lunging forward her attack was blocked by Neo and countered by Roman, but this time Akame countered Romans' strike and kicked Neo away from her, dropping down in between the two, placed her in a risky spot but all she need to do was stop the train, breaking the weapon lock she and Roman were in she dived at the breaks only to instinctual block a strike from Neo sending her into the wall of the train dropping her behind a few boxes and chairs

"Good timing Neo." Roman complemented but was tackled out of the way of an Aura arc that cut a hole in the wall of the compartment, Akame dived from cover again towards the controls, only for Neo to block her path again and open an umbrella which Murasame easily stabbed through but got stuck in

"Whats up?" Roman asked as he stood "stuck?"

Akame yanked on Murasame as hard as she could pulling it free from the umbrella and kicked at Neos' knee only for the strike to be blocked jumping back she barely dodged a short blade that Neo freed from the umbrellas handle and swung at her throat, the heterochromic girl winked at Akame who stared blankly at the girl as they separated

"Huh... it seem Neo has taken a liking to you..." Roman said as he raised his cane "Ah... to be young and in love." he snarked as he pulled the trigger

Akame jumped and kicked off the wall flying over Neo and slashing at her it was blocked by her blade this time, each attack was blocked and parried nearly perfectly, but the difference between the two was weapon proficiency, Akame knew Murasame like it was herself, Neo knew her blade like it was a tool, she clearly wasn't used to using it. Spinning to the right of Neo, Akame swung widely Neo took advantage of that, but what she didn't notice was the aura arc Akame sent at Roman who was sent sprawled just as he fired a round sending it into the ceiling lights causing a large smoke screen, as the smoke cleared Neo hear a click and felt the whole train jerk causing her to fall, she then heard a metallic snap

"Neo? What happened?" Romans' voice came from somewhere behind her, standing she walked to the door of the train and opened it and looked around, yep, they had slowed to a stop. Quickly jogging over to the controls she looked for a way to get it moving again but found that the object marked 'brakes' was currently snapped off and no where to be seen "I'm assuming this didn't work as well as we were hoping?" Roman asked now he was standing and walked up next to her "Gods... fuck..." Neo pat him on the back

"Thanks, but how are we gonna get out of here? There's a dead end one way and a horde of Grimm and huntsmen the other." Neo shrugged in response

"I hate having to do all the talking, lets hope their too busy dealing with Grimm and those animals to deal with us then, now then lets make our silent get away."

"No." Akames voice came as she rested Murasame on his neck, her eyes were on Neo though

"Aw come on, you already thwarted my plans what more do you want?" Roman asked as he raised his hands in surrender

"Who's pulling the strings? I know you're a criminal but you're a thieve your kind don't normally kill, that's why you have Neo. Correct?" Akame asked her reasoning was valid too

"'course we don't kill, but what makes you think someone else is telling me what to do?" Roman retorted with a smug tone

"What profit is there in working with the White Fang just to cause chaos in the city? Why would you steal exclusively dust when just a few months ago you turned a huge profit from stealing from the SDC representative here in Vale? Why would someone as slippery as you be the public face for these attacks? It's because you're covering for someone else." Akame reasoned causing Roman to let out a whistle

"I thought no one caught onto the SDC heist, ain't you smart." Roman complemented "But you're wrong, I am the one in charge of this little operation."

"I said who's pulling the strings, not who was in charge here." Akame shot moving the blade closer to his throat, Neo rolled her eyes then pointed at Roman then held a finger up to her mouth, in other words he wasn't going to talk, Akame sighed just as she heard someone land behind her

"Nice work kid." Qrows' voice came "Everyone else are on their way, lets get these two restrained, then get out of here." Qrow went to grab Neo but received a swift kick to the crotch causing him to fall to his knees, Roman winced at that

"Careful Qrow, shes a bit hard to get under control, especially when its authority figures." Roman said his voice in a tone of shared pain, Qrow growled in pain

"I can handle her if you take Roman." Akame offered as she watched Qrow suffer a bit

"Don't worry Qrow, I don't think I could do that to ya." Roman said as Akame took Murasame from his throat and Qrow grabbed his wrists

Neo quickly stepped very close to Akame and sniffed the girl but quickly received the kashira of Murasame in the gut causing her to stumble back and smile at the girl, she then turned around and put her hands behind her back waiting for Akame to restrain her, Akame was very confused by her act

"When Neo likes someone she tends to get a bit... touchy she'll push boundaries as far as they can go and then some just to see how much of a rise she can get out of you. That's how it is with me at least, but I think her interest is a bit deep than just friendship." Roman explained calmly as Qrow zip tied his hands, then held one out to Akame

"They don't cost much and are pretty damn strong, you should get yourself a few." Qrow explained as she took it and locked in Neos' wrists, with great difficult due to Neo pressing herself against Akame who contentiously had to keep holding the woman still

**(o)**

"Good work you two, I knew I made the right choice by sending you." Esdeath happily said, she and Ruby seemed like the only ones to be in any state of happiness, everyone else looked haunted

"Thanks, but we should get back to Vale now. I think they need it." Qrow said and gestured to WBY, Weiss was looking at her hands, Blake hadn't blinked since they got there, and Yang was doing both

"Come on guys, lets get moving, its... its a long walk." Ruby sighed as she looked behind herself towards mountain Glenn

"I had an idea about that, come on, the metro might be sealed off but the maintenance access should still be open." Esdeath said earning a sigh of relief from Ruby

"Than the gods, I didn't want to walk that whole way again." Ruby happily said as she and Esdeath began towards the maintenance hallway

"Aww, that's a good escape route! Why didn't I think of that?!" Roman said looking over at the two as they busted the door down and vanished

"Uncle Qrow?" Yang asked, she sounded very distracted

"Yeah kid?" Qrow asked as he looked to her

"How do you deal with... with that?" Yang asked and gestured behind her, Blake and Weiss also looked at him for an answer too

"Me and Akame got the same answers for you, I never had an issue with killing. It just felt natural, I don't know if it was the tribe or genetics, but I've never worried 'bout death unless it was directly related to me. You'll wanna talk to Tai if you want how a normal person dealt with it." Qrow shot down causing her expression to drop a bit but they all quickly chased after Ruby and Esdeath

"Qrow help!" Akame called Qrow quickly turned to see Neo straddling Akame who was trying to push Neo off of her, Qrow looked at Neo then to Roman accusingly

"What? I don't control her!" Roman deflected to someone else

"The who does!?" Qrow asked as they began to move towards the maintenance hallway

"It depends on who wears the pants and from what their wearing I'd say its Neo!" Roman joked causing Neo to silently laugh

"I don't wanna deal with this. Ice cream chick get off my kid." Qrow said in a tired tone causing Both Neo and Roman to blink in surprise

"Wait that's your kid! What have you been teaching her?" Roman asked in surprise as Neo shook her head 'no'

"Nothing, mostly." Qrow answered as he pushed Roman along, Akame was forced to carry Neo quickly following behind them

**(o)**

"So... Esdeath?" Ruby asked as they made their way up the dark maintenance hallway which to Rubys surprise became a staircase

"Yeah?" Esdeath answered as they went

"I know we kinda missed out on our date today... so... would you... I don't know... wanna go on a date tomorrow?" Ruby awkwardly asked as she moved but bumped into something in front of her, she assumed it was Esdeath

"What do you mean? This was our date." Esdeath said casually causing Ruby to blink in surprise

"It what..."

"This was our date, I thought you knew that." Esdeath repeated causing Ruby no less surprise

"Okay... so... um... nope... I cant think of anything." Ruby struggled to speak

"DO YOU GUYS MIND GIVING US SOME LIGHT DOWN THIS WAY?!" Qrows voice came from the bottom of the stairs

"YEAH, WE SENT BLAKE TO LOOK FOR THE SWITCH, JUST DRAG THEM UP HERE." Esdeath shouted back down before returning her attention to Ruby her voice had worry in it this time "Did you not have fun on our date?"

"No! I mean yes, _I_ did! But... well... I mean my team did get psychological trauma so that's a bit of an issue but I personally had a blast, I just figured our date would have been a bit more... you know... personal." Ruby explained as the lights came on she saw Esdeath nodding slowly

"Would you rather if we went on a hunt alone?" Esdeath asked calmly, Rubys head was immediately filled with the thoughts of the two alone in the middle of Grimm territory doing... less than innocent things, this caused Ruby to turn very very red and she began to wish she could return to the pitch black from a few moments ago, Esdeath opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Qrow

"Hey you four... thanks for the help with these two." Qrow snarked tiredly as he dragged Roman up the finally few stairs

"I'm just saying if shes carrying Neo it would only be fair if you cared me." Roman said casually as he was limply dragged up to the platform they were all on

"I'm not going to carry you." Qrow growled at Roman

"Yeah but Akame didn't wanna carry Neo but shes not complaining about it." Roman reasoned

"Yeah, that's probably because I've never heard Akame complain about anything... Ever." Qrow shot down

"Its only fair if were all equal." Roman quietly said feigning sadness

"Shut up, you fuckin' commie." Qrow growled

"Language!" Ruby called

"I'll pay for commie." Qrow haggled

"I don't know what that means, but I guess I'll take it." Ruby agreed as she, Esdeath, Yang, and Weiss stood to keep moving

**(o)**

Nearing the surface Akame began to get tired and sat down for a few moments staring at Neo who was happily sitting in Akames' lap, while Akame hated being in such a compromising position it made Neo docile so it mattered very little, until she felt their roles very quickly reverse, some how Neo had gotten free from her restrains and reversed them onto Akame and smiled happily at the girl then tapped her wrist and held up two fingers... charades... she wanted to do charades...

"How did you-" Akame began to calmly ask knowing she could easily free herself and the only weapon she hand that could be seen was Murasame and it would kill the girl if she drew it, but she stopped when Neo tired to cover her mouth and tried to bite down on her fingers which she quickly moved out of reach, Neo then repeated the action of tapping her wrist and holding up two fingers... charades it is then, Akame sighed and nodded, Neo happily bounced a few times causing Akame a bit of discomfort, Neo quickly stopped and held her fist up to her ear holding her thumb and pinkie fingers, Akame was completely lost.

"I have no idea what that means." Akame said blankly causing Neo to pout a bit then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper then searched her body for a writing utensil found none then turned her gaze to Akame with a salacious look in her eyes

Akame sensed her intent rather quickly and spoke calmly as ever "My coats left breast pocket." Neo once again pouted and reached into said pocket and took out a pen then wrote something on one side of the paper then flipped it over and wrote something else, put the pen back into Akames' coat pocket and slipped the piece of paper into Akames' hands nearly getting her fingers broken in the process.

Neo then stood for a few seconds seeming to debate something she then looked to the doorway above them gave a silent sigh, winked, and then shattered into a million pieces that quickly vanished, leaving Akame sitting confused, confusion quickly turned to rage, she had let a criminal get away, she let a _wanted_ criminal get away, _she_ let _her_ get away because she didn't want to deal with a difficult prisoner, quickly snapping the zip tie Akame slammed her fist into the wall next to her causing massive cracks to form along it circling around the steps and ceiling a few seconds afterwards the lower levels of the stairs collapsed in on itself, Akame stood and began up the stairs in shame, fearing Qrows' judgment as she walked up the stairs, quietly nursing her now broken hand

**(o)**

Exiting the maintenance stairway she was quickly seen by Qrow who quickly ran up to her

"Kid you alright? You didn't come up so we started to get concerned-" Qrow began but was cut off by Esdeath

"He was the only one who was actually concerned, so... wheres Neo?" Esdeath asked casually causing Akame to look away from her in shame

"Ha! Neo got away, you owe me fifty bucks Qrow!" Roman laughed out causing Qrow to sigh

"Dammit, I should just give up betting in general." Qrow groaned as he reached for his wallet

"Actually I owe you fifty bucks Qrow, I bet that Akame would have killed both of them." Esdeath said holding fifty Lien out to him which he took

"WHY WERE YOU GUYS BETTING ON THIS!?" Ruby shouted in outrage

"Criminals and Huntsman have a unique relationship, think of it kind like an unspoken game, most huntsman get bigger and easier rewards for killing Grimm, so hunting someone like Torchwick is more to keep you mission ready than anything else, but obviously it wouldn't make much sense if you let people like murders go, so Roman is a bit of a special case." Qrow explained causing Akame all amounts of confusion

"He's not completely wrong, he's caught me like... what does this make it, eight?" Roman said earning Qrow multiple glares, Qrow just shrugged

"Yeah, but this time its not; right place right time. You've actually interfered with my work so you're gonna have to spend some quality time in jail." Qrow shot causing Roman to sigh as Esdeath began to drag him off quickly followed by RWBY. Akame opened her not broken fist and look at the sheet of paper apart from being crumbled it had what looked to be a scroll number on it, flipping it over to see what Neo had written 'Call me' Akame still didn't know how to feel about this

"Akame's got a girlfriend." Qrow teased causing her to blush

"No, I don't. I don't even know her." Akame quickly waved off along with her blush

"Well, shes given to a way _to_ get to know her, just remember that criminals are only really a problem when they interrupt our work, or causing major panic, that's why you don't normally see many reports of criminal activity on the news, and that's why we went after Roman. So you know, have fun with your little girlfriend and lay down some ground rules about what is and isn't allowed, these 'games' aren't really fun if everyone isn't fully participating." Qrow explained earning a nod from Akame

"Shouldn't you be concerned about the fact that crime isn't being stopped by huntsman though?" Akame asked clearly she began to worry that huntsman were corrupt.

"Its mainly because of the power vacuum it leaves, huntsman are great trackers so if we did arrest all the criminals then all the big fish would get caught, but big guys like Roman keep the little guys under thumb, now that he's gone someone bigger may take his place or crime will massively skyrocket. Its just easier to let him cause a few scenes here and there as opposed to letting over half a dozen people causing tons of scenes all at once." Qrow explained, it made some sense to Akame, they provided benefits other than personally ones, it was kind of like a form of nemesis system but on a far larger scale

"Now then, I think I owe you lunch." Qrow said and began to walk away quickly followed by Akame who was still angry at herself for letting Neo get away

**A/N And we reach the end, no breach because Akame is faster and stronger than all of team RWBY combined. Onto the important part; Neo... I made her character up on a whim, she seems to be a very playful person but also tries to get in peoples heads, something she knows she cant do with Akame, thus her interest. I don't really know what I wanna do with that yet but I will say I made it so I have something to fill the next few chapters somewhat interesting.**


	10. Kill the Pattern

Ruby sat next to Esdeath who was happily reading something on her scroll while Ruby watched as Akame trained, well it wasn't really training it was more of attacking nothing to try and quell her rage

"Do you think Akame is taking Neo getting way personally?" Ruby asked watching Akame swing her training blade faster than she'd ever seen before, Esdeath lowered her scroll and watched Akame let out a flurry of strikes

"How many was that Ruby?" Esdeath asked calmly

"I saw three strikes." Ruby answered confused that Esdeath ignored her question

"Then your eyes aren't fast enough yet, there were ten strikes. She is _furious_ that that the girl got away, but what I don't get is why she hasn't used her number to track Neo down." Esdeath said looking to Ruby

"I asked her about that and she started doing that. that was three hours ago. I've never seen Akame angry." Ruby answered causing Esdeath to hum in agreement

"I feel like it has something to do with her brainwashing." Esdeath speculated as she leaned on her knees and watched Akame closer

"Could she really be effected by it still?" Ruby asked, Esdeath nodded

"Of course, Gozuki was pretty big on light brainwashing, unlike the rest of the empire. He preferred to confused his 'children' into obedience, all their actions were made to impress their 'father' so I believe this is one of the first times shes failed at completing an objective and it was truly her fault. Admittedly I'd be scared to cross blades with her right now." Esdeath explained causing Ruby to nod

**(o)**

Spinning around and swinging her blade it was stopped by something finally focusing she saw Qrow standing in front of her holding a training blade defensively blocking her strike

"You're clearly pissed, so lets see if this'll calm you, follow my lead." Qrow said and pushed her blade away from him, Akame let the momentum carry her a bit and swung out her leg which was blocked by Qrow they slowly traded blow after blow it was more of a dance than a fight, Qrow ducked under her strike and swung up at her, Akame sidestepped it and swung down at him, rolling out of the way he swung horizontally at her, stepping back she avoided the strike and thrust her blade forward only for Qrow to step out of the way

**(o)**

"What are they doing?" Esdeath asked watching them both calmly moving around each other slowly swinging

"Oh! Uncle Qrow used to do that with me and Yang, Its kinda like distracting yourself from your issues with slow movements, he said its kinda like therapy, you're aiming at your opponents weapon, until both of you calm down then-" Ruby began to explain but was cut of by a loud rumble coming from the training grounds, both Qrow and Akame were violently assaulting the other as they rapidly moved around the training grounds "-Then you unleash everything on your opponent." Ruby finished explaining as they continued to assault each other

"Now this is far more interesting." Esdeath commented leaning forward concentrating fully on the battle now, Ruby joined her but was struggling to keep up, Esdeath looked over to Ruby feeling her frustration at trying to keep up "Focus on where their going to be, not where they are. Predict where they will go, and look there first." Esdeath advised, Ruby started to catch glimpses of them her eyes darting from each side of the arena but she was slowly beginning to catch up to their movements

"When were they going to teach us this?" Ruby asked after a few moments of concentration

"I don't think they were, they were probably going to say its just something you learn in the field." Esdeath answered causing Ruby to sigh

"Esdeath... what aren't you telling me about your semblance?" Ruby finally asked drawing Esdeaths' attention "I know you're hiding something. Its not like I'm going to stop loving you, but I just want to know."

**(o)**

Qrow rolled back and stabbed his blade forward greeting a stab from Akame sliding their blades together sent sparks everywhere, pressing their shoulders together they began to push against each other as hard as possible, Qrow had the advantage of leverage and stamina but surprisingly Akame had out classed him in speed slightly and they were on par with strength, it was clear to him though that Akame couldn't keep this up much longer all of her aura was being spent on improving her strength and speed, all he needed to do was keep pressing and it would be over soon, Qrow went to push against Akame again much harder this time but as he did it Akame vanished, spinning around Qrow brought up his blade predicting her strike "You're done!" Akame shouted as her blade passed through his and hit him square in the chest sending him across the room

Qrow coughed then spoke "Nice work kid. I don't really think I have anything new to teach you."

Akame rested the blade on her shoulder as she began to pant heavily too "I don't think that's true, I cant use aura for subtle things yet, and I can only keep up with someone on your level for about a minute, but when I use my semblance..." Akame trailed off as her aura shattered earning a nod from Qrow

"Those things will eventually fix themselves." Qrow waved off "I got nothing else to teach you, so hows 'bout we celebrate? Hey Esdeath?" Qrow called looking over to the stands finding them empty

"Where'd they go?" Akame asked him, Qrow shrugged after he stood, they returned the training weapons back to the racks and exited the room after turning out the lights

"Hey!" an unfamiliar voice came from behind them, turning around she was greeted by a girl who had green hair and red eyes "You're Akame right?" she asked happily

Akame nodded at that and spoke calmly "Yes, I am. Who are you? How do you know me?"

"I'm Emerald, anyways Ruby wanted me to tell you that she and the General were going to go into the city, just so you guys don't worry." she said causing both Akame and Qrow to nod

"Yeah, I guessed that's what was going on. Their goin' on an actual date." Qrow said calmly, Akame could have sworn that Emerald relaxed greatly after he spoke then processed what he said and began to look confused

"Wait what?" Emerald asked blinking in surprise, Qrows eyes darted over to her and he spoke

"Nothin' too big, but Ruby has earned her way right into the generals best book, its the opposite of the one I'm in." Qrow joked earning a laugh from Emerald as she backed away from them

"Well... I gotta go, so... I'll be seein' ya." Emerald quickly said as she continued backing away from them

"Goodbye Emerald. Stay out of trouble." Akame said as she and Qrow began to walk away from her, neither of them noticed her freezing for a moment after Akame said that

**(o)**

"That was reckless." Cinder growled causing Emerald to look at her feet

"It was, I'm sorry. But I did get something out of it." Emerald quickly said "Ruby Rose, the maiden you ran into-"

"I know her name, what about her?" Cinder cut in, Emerald quickly nodded and cut right to the point

"She is apparently in a relationship with General Esdeath." Emerald answered causing Cinder to relax a bit

"Is she now... we can deal with this, I'll talk with Watts, see if we can find a way to get one of them to... break." Cinder began to plan as she began to walk from the wall she and Mercury were waiting for Emerald "Good work, Emerald."

**(o)**

Yang, Weiss, and Blake, began towards the house, after they got back she called Tai and asked him to talk with them but she didn't say about what, she was too scared that he might snap at her or shut down again so she asked if he could meet with them

Yang knocked on the door then opened it entering what she took to calling 'Akames' room' she then looked around the room and called "Dad? We're here, where are you?"

"I'm in the kitchen sweetheart, I'll be right out." Tais' voice came from the kitchen "You can tell your friends to make themselves at home."

"You hear the man, make yourselves at home guys." Yang said and gestured to the living room, Blake and Weiss sat down and stared at the Television, Yang sat down with them and stared at the ground, after a while Zwei came charging out of the kitchen quickly followed by Tai who was carrying a large platter of sweets which he set on the coffee table and he happily spoke

"Here, eat. Its not normal that I have to entertainer Beacon students." he said as he sat down

"Dad, we came here to ask you about... something." Yang said seriously, Tai nodded and his smile dropped "How did you... deal with... killing?" Yang asked, Tai looked at each of them then leaded back in his chair with a sigh

"That's... that is not an easy question to answer." He said as he ran his hand through his hair "Back during our time at Beacon, Qrow and Raven... they could cut down anyone in front of them without batting an eye. Me and Summer thought they were monsters, but one day... one day we had to do the same... a raid on a village we were in began, Qrow and Raven were no where to be seen and..." Tai closed his eyes trying to forget the image "I got separated from Summer, a man ran at me and I reacted, not knowing he had no aura... I can still see his face... from time to time..." Tai then shook his head when Zwei barked at him "Sorry about that... I got... lost. The fact of the matter is after that time, I talked with Raven and Qrow about it they told me to grow up, so I went to talk to Summer, she said 'I don't know how to deal with it, but I know its not right to feel nothing.' so I blamed myself, for a few moments everyday, then I move on." Tai explained to them "Sadly, after a while it gets easier, you stop hesitating and you start to forget faces, that's inevitable, just so long as you don't take any joy in it."

"Dad? Have you heard of General Esdeath of the Atlas military?" Yang asked after she glanced at Blake and Weiss

"Not until she came here. Why?" Tai asked leaning forward in his seat

"Well..." Yang began

**(o)**

"So, Ruby is this more what you had in mind when I said date?" Esdeath asked, the two were sitting in a very fancy restaurant both looking completely out of place giving their attire, the staff were going to complain, but they shut up really quickly when they saw the Insignia on both of them

"Kinda... but I was hoping for fewer stares." Ruby said peaking over her shoulder at the elitists glaring at them

"Hmm..." Esdeath nodded as she replied, she shimmered blue and suddenly large walls of ice formed around giving them completely privacy "Better?"

"NO! YES!? I don't know... I feel like were just causing a scene now." Ruby stumbled to say, Esdeath nodded again at that

"I don't understand, if you wanted privacy why would putting up these walls be bad? They cant see through them so they cant glare at you." Esdeath reasoned calmly as her aura shimmered red signaling that they had swapped semblances again

"... Fair." Ruby agreed as she nodded "Wait... no that's not right? It still doesn't make sense! Why does it feel like it does? Whats going on?" Ruby asked looking Esdeath dead in the eyes

"What do you mean? Its just basic logic, if people cant see you then why should you care?" Esdeath waved off

"Okay... but what about when we leave? Or when they come to bring us our food and drinks?" Ruby questioned trying to poke a hole in her plan, Esdeath didn't respond, she just shimmered blue again and one of the walls dropped and a waiter awkwardly stepped in with their drinks blinking in surprise and set them down before quickly exited and the wall went back up, and she shimmered red again

"...okay... I suppose that's fair." Ruby awkwardly said as she grabbed her glass of milk and took a sip, Esdeath follow soon after but with a glass of wine, she happily watched Ruby as they talked about nothing, the mere sound of Rubys voice was more than enough for her to relax and enjoy their time together

**(o)**

"-and you let her fight along side that 'woman'?!" Tai finished yelling outraged by what happened

"It could have ended much worse, dad." Yang sighed sadly

"HOW COULD IT BE WORSE!?" he shouted again

"She could have killed Qrow, Akame, and Professor Goodwitch." Yang answered calmly

"One third of that is a good thing." Tai snarked with a scoff, Yang knew it wasn't sarcasm though

"Okay, but what about Akame? I don't want to know what will happen if he dies." Yang said her voice lightly fearful as she began to think more on that

"_When_ he dies, he's a huntsman, its gonna happen eventually. I'm sure she'd be sad for a while then move on." Tai waved off

Yang sighed and spoke realizing just how little her father understood about Akame "You wont get it, and its not my place to tell you."

**(o)**

Qrow and Akame sat on a roof watching the sun fall beyond the horizon

"How've you been lately kid?" Qrow asked as he leaned back on the rooftop lying down

"I've been fine, considering our current business partner." Akame answered as she bit into a sandwich Qrow bought her

"Neo? Or Esdeath?" Qrow asked Akame punched him in the shoulder lightly

"I still don't want to talk to her. I just want to bring her to justices, I wont fail you again, its my apolog-" Akame began to said but Qrow cut her off

"We've had no problem workin' with criminals before. Besides, you were an assassin before you were a huntsman. Plus you didn't fail me, you got Esdeath to pay me so in my book that's a major win. Good job." Akame still had a very worried look on her face so Qrow spoke again "I don't know much about your last dad, but if he forced you to become an assassin like Esdeath told me he did..." Qrow paused not really knowing how to end that statement so he started a different one "It doesn't matter to me what you do, so long as you're happy with what you're doin'." Akame stared at him, she felt strange she had done everything she could have thought of to earn Qrows' favor; she had perfect grades, she was the top of all four years in combat class, and she spent most of her free time training with Ruby or Yang, she has done everything just as she had done with Gozuki but now he saying it doesn't matter

"But..." Akame began to say her voice was uncertain but was cut off by Qrow again

"Just enjoy having your second chance, and keeping Ruby and Yang out of trouble, 'cause they _really_ need it." Qrow said, Akame lied back next to him

"I'll do that, father." Akame said happily as they lied there staring at the sky as stars slowly began to fill it

"That makes me feel weird, but its a good weird." Qrow said calmly, inside though he was freaking out, Akame had called him father, he may not have to raise her but he is stuck with the sudden shock of freezing up and panicking, not that he'd tell anyone, he has a reputation to maintain, but he was still fearful of his relationship with Akame, he might be comfortable with her but he finally let it sink in that he is her protector, her guardian, and her parent, all of this was hidden beneath a calm face

**(o)**

"Amity Colosseum is on its way now. It should reach Vale by the end of this week." James said his voice slightly altered due to the fact that it was on a scroll

"Thank you James, I wish our parting was... better than it actually was." Ozpin thanked lying his scroll on his desk

"Think nothing of it Oz, I understand just how bad things are right now, we need to be discrete, but if things do start getting bad... I think it'll be safer to tell everyone about it." James said causing Ozpin to sigh

"I know you don't like keeping secret's this big, but if everyone knew... it wouldn't be safe. Too many problems all at once." Ozpin shot down, James sounded like he wanted to say something but instead sighed

"Goodbye for now Oz." James said "Good luck in the election." Ozpin said and ended the call, Ozpin leaned back in his chair and sighed "Right now... I wish I never invited him into the brotherhood."

**(o)**

Ruby and Esdeath were happily walking towards Beacon, the large city was dark and less than savory people had begun to come out, Esdeath happily walked through the streets with a smile, Ruby was slowly growing less enthusiastic as she saw the glares people were throwing them and began to get very self conscious

"Esdeath what if they attack us?" Ruby asked concern in her voice

"If their brave enough, we'll fight them." Esdeath answered casually

"I figured that but I cant, unlicensed huntsman aren't allowed to fight or use their semblance in the cities." Ruby reasoned calmly causing Esdeath to scoff

"Then use mine, and I wont use one, not that anyone could actually harm either of us." Esdeath reasoned "If you use mine than technically you're not using your semblance, and that law doesn't apply when acting under a huntsman, I.E. me."

Ruby looked very uncomfortable and shifted slightly "Yeah... but... if I do... I... get... weird." Esdeath raised an eyebrow at her statement

"Weird how?" she asked interested in what Ruby had to say

"I get... really angry, and I don't know if or when I can stop, it makes me really scared." Ruby explained Esdeath nodded then spoke again

"Sometimes you have to face your fear, you're scared of your anger, so you should face it, and prove that it doesn't control you."

"If you think I should... but I don't think its anger that comes out when I fight with it... its... something else." Ruby agreed as they turned a corner and continued toward Beacon

**(o)**

Arriving back at the dorms Ruby turned to Esdeath and smiled warmly at her, it was greeted in kind

"I had a lot of fun for the past few days Esdeath." Ruby happily said she then began to blush a bit as she tried to speak again "So... I was... well... you..." Ruby continued to try and speak but kept stuttering she then paused for a few moments then finally spoke "Okay, you know I'm no good at words so... actions." she then grabbed Esdeaths' collar and pulled her into a kiss, it lasted for only a few seconds but it got what she was trying to say through

"I will agree, your actions are far better than your words." Esdeath happily said after they finished

"ARE YOU TWO DONE?!" Yangs' voice came from their dorm window, Ruby quickly turned a very deep red "'CAUSE IF YOU ARE RUBY HAS SOME WORK THAT NEEDS DONE BEFORE TOMORROW!" Yang shouted she then looked over her shoulder "ITS NOTHING BLAKE, JUST RUBY AND ESDEATH SUCKING FACE!" Yang shouted again Ruby yelped at that

"SHUT UP YANG!" Ruby shouted up at her sister, Esdeath just happily stood and watched

"WHAT? I'M JUST SAYIN' YOURE NOT MANAGING YOUR TIME VERY EFFICIENTLY!"

"Why are you two yelling? Its ten forty-five post meridiem." Akames voice calmly came from her window

"DONT YOU DAR-" Ruby began but Yang shouted over her

"RUBY AND ESDEATH WERE MAKING OUT AND RUBY STILL HAS WORK TO DO!" Yang answered loudly as though she was talking to a parent

"I heard, so did..." Akame began letting her eyes scan over the windows of the dorm quickly " about two hundred and eighty people." she finished causing Ruby to collapse to the ground and begin to whine, Esdeath sat down next to her and pat her on the head

"You okay Ruby?" Akame asked from her window

"I'm good..." Ruby waved off after a few seconds of quiet sobbing

"YA'LL GONNA MAKE OUT AGAIN?!" Yang shouted down to them, Ruby began to pout again

"If you would rather come stay with me tonight I would be more than happy to accommodate." Esdeath quietly offered suggestively

"I wish I could, but Yang is right, I do have a paper for Professor Port that I need to get done before first period." Ruby said clearly not picking up on Esdeaths' suggestion, Esdeath nodded then she stood and pulled Ruby to her feet

"Very well then, I'll leave you to it then. Rest well, my love." Esdeath said then walked away, leaving Ruby to watch her go, which Ruby did, almost hypnotized by the woman

"RUBY! ARE YOU COMING UP HERE OR AM I GONNA TELL WEISS THAT YOU'LL BE COPYING OFF OF HER?" Yang called down to her sister breaking her from her trance

"I wont tolerate cheating." Akame said causing Yang to begin to stutter and try back track

"IM COMING, AKAME DONT BEAT HER UP YET!" Ruby quickly said and ran inside

"So Akame what did Esdeath ask her? Also what does 'post meridiem' mean?" Yang asked looking over to her

"She offered for Ruby to stay with her tonight, judging by her tone she wanted to have sex with her. But I don't think Ruby notice, and post meridiem means afternoon in Latin." Akame explained "I'm going back to sleep now okay." Akame said as she shut her window

"Okay, good night Akame." Yang called to her as she did the same after reentering her room she mumbled to herself "What the hell is Latin?"

**(o)**

the next day passed as normal for Akame up until they reached sixth period, combat class. She was challenged by a boy named Mercury, Esdeath who was still teaching first years began to laugh at the challenge earning confused looks from both Mercury and his team

"Are you ready, Akame?" Esdeath asked, Akame just drew her blade and pointed it at Mercury

Esdeath then turned to Mercury "Are you ready to lose?" she asked

"aren't you showing a bit of favoritism?" Mercury asked neutrally causing Esdeath to scoff

"I hate her, but I will recognize that she will easily defeat you without taking a hit." Esdeath boasted "Now then, closer matches are waiting to be called. Three, two, one... go."

Mercury rushed at Akame and swung a kick at her neck but it passed right through her as he felt his own Aura shatter

"And the match is called, Akame wins." Esdeath said with a bored tone, Mercury quickly stood and kicked at Akame again only for it to be blocked by her elbow her blade aimed at his throat, her calm expression unchanged as she stared him dead in the eyes

"If you want to die you can keep 'fighting'." Esdeath said calmly Mercury continued to glare at Akame who calmly greeted it, she finally spoke after a few tense seconds

"You're trying to figure out if I'd kill you or not. If you attack me again, your life will be forfeit." Akame answered to his unspoken question, she then released him and sheathed her blade, turned, and exited the arena leaving him alone

"Mercury get out of the arena, more important people want to fight." Esdeath called down to him earning her a glare from him

"Oh please if you cant last five seconds against Akame you wouldn't want to fight me. It would be gruesome for you, and boring for me." Esdeath said as Mercury quickly exited the arena, Akame sat down next to Ruby who looked tired and kept shooting glances at Akame. Mercury sat down and was glared at by two fourths of his team, the last one was watching Akame with a smile

"Um, Akame? If you wouldn't mind, could we go a round?" another voice asked, this time it was Pyrrha

"Sure." Akame answered with a smile causing Mercurys' glare to intensify

"I'm obligated to ask _regardless_ of how easy a fight might have been, are you sure?" Esdeath said her tone still bored

"I'm sure, Pyrrha has probably been waiting for this for a while." Akame answered in a polite tone, Mercury was now pissed in two seconds they had gotten more words out of her then he had in... four seconds

**(o)**

Both girls entered the arena and dropped into ready stances

"3... 2.. 1. GO!" Esdeath called her interest finally growing

Akame and Pyrrha crashed into each other locking blades pressing against the other as hard as they could, Pyrrha was clearly on the back foot so she dived back and raised her shield just as Akames' blade crashed into her shield causing a shock wave that pushed them farther apart, Akame quickly rolled to the side and began to run dodging bullets fired at her by Pyrrha who was completely focused on her, Akame altered her direction and ran straight at Pyrrha which knocked off her aim slightly, but it was just enough time for Akame to reach her and land two attacks that were both blocked, Pyrrhas' defense was excellent and her attacks weren't anything to scoff at either but in every other department Akame was leagues above Pyrrha jumping back Akame prepared to attack again but this time Pyrrha threw her shield at her, Akame flipped over it just as it hit the wall and was sent flying back Akame landed on it sending it into the ground and she stood on top of it, that prevented Pyrrha from recalling it without revealing her semblance, staring each other down, Pyrrha rushed forward and stabbed at her, Akame sidestepped and kicked Pyrrhas' shield away from her and swung at her neck, Pyrrhas' Aura shattered

"Akame wins... again." Esdeath called out as Akame helped Pyrrha to her feet

"You rely on your shield for defense too much, you should focus on training without it." Akame calmly advised

"With a semblance like yours I really don't think it matters." Pyrrha commented as she panted lightly "Being able to break Aura with one hit leaves very few places for error."

Akame nodded it makes sense that people would mistake her use of Murasame as a semblance "I suppose so." Akame agreed calmly

after the Esdeath incident and Akame helping Glynda when she needed it, Ozpin agreed that Akame could use Murasame whenever she felt like it, so long as she doesn't kill anyone. That and Ozpin gave her a kitchen to use if she wants to cook, that was more important to her than most other things.

"See, that's how a fight is suppose to be." Esdeath commented obviously directing it at Mercury which clearly piss him off "Even if Akame was holding back." Esdeath added earning surprised looks from everyone save RWBY

Pyrrha looked to Akame who nodded lightly confirming Esdeaths' words to her, personally she didn't care, Akame could out play her every way to Sunday and that made her happy, her whole life she was plagued by the fact that she was a skilled duelist and had a powerful semblance to boot, thus she was raised on a pedestal by her peers until she was all alone, but here at beacon she found two people who didn't know who she was, and she found one that could defeat her with ease regardless as to how infuriating her actions in combat were.

**(o)**

Akame stopped outside her room after classes and dinner with RWBY, it had become routine for her, in two days Amity would be arriving and the tournament would begin, Akame didn't want to participate, but father was there so she felt obligated to participate, but her mind kept jumping back to what he had told her yesterday, '_it doesn't matter to me what you do, so long as you're happy with what you're doin'.' _those were his words, but it still felt wrong. Pushing down her thoughts she opened her dorm door and entered quickly shutting it behind her then began to remover her coat when she realized someone was sitting on her windowsill, turning around she was greeted by Neo who smiled at her and waved

"Why are you here?" Akame asked carefully and placed her hand on Murasames' hilt, Neo responded by repeating her 'call me' gesture "I was planing on doing that this weekend when I had time." Akame responded, Neo made an 'oh' with her mouth as though she had just been told the answer to a difficult problem, she then shrugged and crossed her arms "So why are you here?" Neo replied with stomping on the ground lightly "Ground rules?" Akame asked using the information Qrow gave her to figure it out, Neo nodded "Don't interfere with my schooling, and no kidnapping my friends." Akame answered, Neo nodded and pulled out her wallet then gestured to it "Yeah, no robbing me either, I need that for food." Akame agreed, Neo nodded again and returned her wallet to her pocket "That's it, just don't be a constant nuisance and this will be fine." Neo quickly spun and pointed at herself "Your turn?" Akame asked Neo nodded happily, Akame was having a very easy time understanding her gestures, Neo reached into one of her coat pockets then the other, then the inside ones, she then looked a little frustrated and began to check her pants pockets, her back pockets and then her front ones, finally she pulled out a piece of paper with a list on it and held it out to Akame

_{I wrote all this down because it would take too long to gesture all this out, and I feel like neither of us have the time for that, so I wrote this so we don't have to dance around any of the subjects._

_-I want to talk with you frequently, since Roman is gone I don't have anyone to talk with, thus my number._

_-Secondly, I want to hang out with you from time to time, you seem like a fun person to spend time with._

_-Third, no 'talking' about our jobs, its just professional courtesy to both our employers._

_-finally, can I borrow some of your clothes? They look really good on you and we're about the same size, but I think your chest is a little bigger. Maybe if someone let me touch them I'd know but who really cares? Not me.} _Akame read each with a blank expression on her face, she then looked at Neo who was looking at her expectantly with a mix of both puppy dog eyes and flirtatious ones but with each time she blinked her eye color changed colors between pink, brown, and white.

Akame sighed then spoke "I'll agree to this, except for the last one. I only have one set of clothes." Neo nodded in surprise Akame then added "Technically I have two, but the other one is my school uniform." Neo nodded at that seeming to think of something "So, can you leave? I was about to change." Akame asked as she set the paper down on her desk, Neo just smiled and fell back on Akames' bed and stared at her, Akame shrugged and continued to strip, nudity was never a problem for her, what was an issue was the fact that her mind jumped to Lubbock, she didn't care for nudity _until_ she had spent time with him, he was very bad at sneaking up on girls while they bathed that she actually asked him if he enjoyed getting caught, he answered with a sad whimper and ran away, it probably had something to do with the fact that both her and Leone were bathing at the time. Leone then filled her mind, it had been a while since she had though of her, all she could wonder was if she was okay wherever she was

_'I'm fine.'_

Akame blinked a few times and looked around, she heard Leones' voice she could have sworn she had, looking at Neo who was still smiling and watching her

"Did you say something?" Akame asked causing Neo to raise an eyebrow then shake her head no, Akame nodded slowly as she continued to to undress

**(o)**

Qrow leaned on the bar and sighed then covered his eyes

"Hey handsome, buy me a drink?" A woman asked to his left he didnt even spare her a glance

"I'll buy you a drink if you leave me alone." Qrow offered coldly with a slight slur "There are plenty of guys trying to get their dicks wet around here."

"Prick..." the woman muttered and left, Qrow sighed again, he couldn't get Leone out of his head, ever since she left him in the empire he couldn't look at any other woman the same way he used to and if he did he felt guilty about it, the closest hes gotten was a make out session and that ended with a nightmare of Leone shout at him for having such low standards, not the fact that it happened. Leaning back from the bar he inhaled the smell of the bar, the alcoholic scent and the smell of grime from travelers wandering the world filled his mind and he closed his eyes and let out a groan, he was never going to get over her

"_And you shouldn't!"_

Qrow quickly turned knocking his seat over and placed his hand on Harbinger his eyes scanning the whole room which fell silent due to his actions, no one... nothing... she wasn't there...

"Go back to your drinks... I've clearly had enough." Qrow said neutrally and walked away from the bar to the door and slammed it open

**(\\_/)**

_Okay... so maybe that magic wasn't the best choice to start with... you were right spirit... as usual..._

_**You'll grow more proficient at it, but not right now, for now you must continue moving towards the top if you want to see them in the flesh once again...**_

**A/N That... makes... three... I need to stop my binge writing, it really makes the feeling of getting the writing done the week of really become less of a weight off my shoulders and more of a slight rush of dopamine instead of a large rush of dopamine... or cocaine, I hear that's also a rush.**


	11. Kill the Assassin

**A/N I don't really know if I like this chapter or not, I like it but I also feel that its a bit off so I don't know how it'll turn over for you guys.**

"Yes general?"

"I have a special assignment for you, this will be a difficult mission and most likely end in your death."

"I am prepared to serve you until death general."

"I want you to assassinate Ruby Rose, no poison or subtler means, you must attack her. That's why I'm asking you."

"It will be done, general."

**(o)**

Ruby leaned back in her chair she spent the past few nights working hard to get completely caught up, Akame had told her it was a bad idea to put off things like this but she couldn't help it, school work is so boring. Speaking of Akame for some reason Ruby couldn't drop her guard around her anymore, it was like she was ready to strike at any moment and Ruby had to be prepared, and if that wasn't strange enough she had begun to spend more time on her scroll

"All of you remember!" Ports voice came drawing all of their attention "If you want to participate in the tournament make sure you sign up soon, the brackets will be created at the end of this week, once that time passes you wont be able to enter."

Akame nodded slowly as the bell began to ring, rising to her feet she walked out, Ruby sighed and rubbed her eyes, they had already agreed to fight in the tournament so they were going to be on their way to sign up after classes are over, Ruby exited the room quickly followed by her team

"Hey Yang?" Ruby asked as they walked

"Yeah sis?" Yang replied quickly walking up next to her

"Who do you thing we should send to the semi-finals?" Ruby asked as they walked

"What makes you think we'll make it that far?" Yang asked as she raised an eyebrow Ruby scoffed at that

"If any of these fools could give us a run for our money then we don't deserve to be huntresses." Ruby growled rather aggressively, causing Yang a small amount of concern

"Isn't that a bit hostile? You have been getting... angrier over the past few days." Yang said carefully Ruby stopped and turned yang towards her

"Look, we could probably kill all of them, I couldn't care less about their... their... weaknesses." Ruby growled "_We_ are strong so why should _we_ concern ourselves with them, I just want to know who you what to toy with them."

"Now you're sounding just like Esdeath." Yang shot causing Rubys eye to twitch, instead of responding she turned and walked away from Yang who looked down and her now frozen feet and sighed, she couldn't tell why Ruby had been getting this way, maybe it was because they had killed for the first time a few days ago, through the whole fight she seemed to be dealing with something else as she attack maybe it would help if they talked to her about it

"So are you going to free yourself or?" Weiss asked, Yang yanked at her feet but found the ice too strong to break

"Little help please." Yang asked and Weiss rolled her eyes pulled out a small vile of burn dust and tossed it on the ice causing it to steam, somehow more ice formed

"How did that happen?"

"I'm just gonna punch it." Yang finally said and cocked back her arm

**(o)**

Qrow watched Amity as it floated over Beacon, he sighed the last time he was in that place it was with team STRQ, the memories they made there were nice reminders that he once had a much larger family

"So you're the 'suspicious person' I was getting reports about." Esdeaths' voice came from behind him

"Have you seem me? I am the pinnacle of suspicious." Qrow snarked as she sat down next to him

"You do make it an art." Esdeath agreed

"So you haven't told them yet." Qrow said looking over to her

Esdeath sighed "Yeah, I haven't had a moment with all of them alone yet, I'm planing on telling them after class tomorrow."

"I'd like to be there when you tell them." Qrow said leaning on forward on his knees "I've been lying to them for almost their whole lives so I want to be there when they hear the truth."

"Feel free to stop in after classes then." Esdeath nodded she smiled at him as he stood and walked away from her, her thoughts returned to a few nights ago when Ruby kissed her, every time she thought of it her heart skipped a beat, she wanted Ruby to be close to her at all times, it hurt otherwise.

**(o)**

Akame walked off the airship, and into the city, classes just ended and Neo wanted to meet up somewhere less secure, as she walked towards the Shadowlight den it would be the first time entering the place, when she did it was nothing like she suspected, she believed that it was going to be dirty and full of killers but it wasn't, it was nice, clean and full of people quietly talking, looking around her eyes quickly caught Neo who was 'talking' with the bartender, walking up to her Akame sat and waited

"Ma'am I cant get you a drink if you don't tell me what you want." the man said Neo proceeded to gesture wildly clearly frustrated, she then turned to Akame gestured to the man the back to her

"Are you trying to order Neapolitan ice cream?" Akame asked calmly, Neo jumped onto Akame and kissed her, Akame calmly pushed her off breaking the gesture "I assume that's a yes." Neo nodded happily

"She could have written it down." the bartender mumbled as he began to serve them, Neo rolled her eyes and looked Akame up and down, her clothes hadn't changed much, black skirt, tight black shirt, red tie, bracers, and hip armor, black trench coat over top all of that hiding it from everything but wandering hands. Akame leaned on the bar and stared at the ice cream placed in front of Neo, watching the woman happily eat it

"So, Neo how has the past few days been treating you?" Akame asked Neo shrugged and gestured to herself then Akame and signaled 'call me' again and happily nodded

"That's good to hear, I suppose having such a quiet way of communication can cause problems." Akame replied, Neo nodded then gestured for Akame to follow her after she finished eating, Akame did so but prepared herself for anything to come

**(o)**

"Look, Tai I get it, but-"

"NO BUTS! YANG TOLD ME EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PAST WEEK! WHY WOULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN!?"

"Look if you want to try and kill her be my guest! Me and Raven barely did that together, and you know what? She still came back." Qrow shot back finally losing his patience

"Qrow what the hell happened before you and Akame got here?" Tai asked in anger Qrow scoffed at that

"I'm done with this, you want answers on that ask Akame, Ruby, Yang, Esdeath, or _Raven_, good luck with that last one." Qrow growled then hung up, the only thing he could think of before he and Akame got to Remnant was Leone, sure he was being a bit of an asshole bringing Raven up directly to him but in his mind fair is fair, Turning the corner Qrow walked down an alleyway, entering the slums Qrow looked around he saw Cornelia block an attack and stumble back, raising her fists she caught a stab and yanked the thug toward her and elbowed him in the jaw sending him to the ground, the other rapped his arms around her throat and pulled her off of him, Cornelia swung her elbow backward into his gut and grabbed him by the hair pulling him over and off of her and slammed him into the ground as she did so she hear a yelp of pain and the clatter of steel looking up she saw Qrow holding a mans wrist tight enough to brake his bones

"You're pretty strong kid, too bad your situational awareness is shit." Qrow commented and threw one thug unto two others sending all three to the ground

"Thanks... Qrow..." Cornelia thanked through pants as her exo-arm retracted back into her chest piece and bracer

"No problem kid, how have things 'round here been?" Qrow asked as they began to walk down the dirty road

"They have been getting better, with the Atlas solders marching around things like that are less frequent and Esdeath has come down here and hunted down some of the thieves herself, it was great." Cornelia said as they walked causing Qrow to sigh

"Yeah, she seems to be everywhere these days." Qrow commented causing her to laugh a bit

"Yeah, shes great! When I was taking care of the little ones she came and helped me with it, shes great with kids." Cornelia said, Qrow had no words the Esdeath he knew was brutal, evil, and had no morals, but here he was listening to Cora tell him all about how Esdeath was great at taking care of little kids

"Are we talking about the same Esdeath? Blue hair, massive rack, could probably kill everyone around her with ease?" Qrow asked as they walked

"I'm not so sure about the last one but yes to the first two." Cornelia answered causing Qrow to nod again

"Are you sure?" Qrow asked again

"Yes, I'm pretty sure. Mini skirt, neat hat, weird tattoo on her chest, warm smile." Cornelia replied

"See, you keep saying things that are true, then you say something completely wrong so I'm not really sure if we're really talking about the same person." Qrow shot sarcastically

"So, what brings you down here? I figured all the huntsman in the city would be working to keep the Vytal festival safe." Cornelia asked as they slowed to a stop

"Dealing with Esdeath is... taxing. I needed a break." Qrow answered as he retrieved his scroll from his pocket he read something on it and sighed "Gotta go kid, be careful next time, you really don't wanna lose an eye."

"Okay, see ya later Qrow." Cornelia said and waved to him as he walked away

**(o)**

Akame was calmly following Neo as they walked down side street after side street seemingly going nowhere, Neo began to happily skip when they got to the main roads

"Are you not concerned that you're wanted?" Akame asked Neo who was standing out of the crowd quiet a bit, Neo shook her head and then held her hand up and lowered it

"I don't understand that one." Akame said causing to pout a bit then pulled Romans hat from her coat and held it above her head then pointed at herself and lowered her hand "Ah, you're not as know as him. So you don't have to worry about it. Right?" Neo nodded in confirmation then leaned on Akames shoulder as they walked

**(o)**

Ruby growled and stared at her clenched fists, she couldn't figure out how she was able to do such things, she wanted to cry

"Ruby? You doin' okay?" Yang's voice came from behind her, why did she insist on treating her like a child?

"What do you want Yang?" Ruby asked coldly she heard a sigh come from behind her after that Yang sat down next to her

"I'm guessing you're acting like this because of mountain Glenn, if you want to talk about it you have me and Akame to lean on." Yang said Ruby finally spoke

"I wanted to laugh... I was having so much fun... then it was over... I felt so alive as I was ripping them apart, I was having so much fun cutting them down, I wanted to laugh as they died so they knew that they were just toys to me." Ruby said calmly as the air around them grew colder "I wanted to experience that again so much I nearly attacked to all. Tell me, do you really want me to lean on you now?" Ruby asked looking her sister dead in the eyes

"Of course, you're my sister even if... some of the things you said are a bit... not good." Yang carefully said as she placed a hand on Rubys back, in reality she was horrified, Esdeath had to be responsible for this and she wanted answers now more than ever sense Ruby was now being majorly effected by it

"You cant lie to me Yang." Ruby quietly said looking away from her sister to the ground

"I'm no-" Yang began but Ruby cut her off

"Go away. Now." Ruby growled as the air began to freeze into spikes all around them

Yang could feel Rubys killing intent, it was brutal, while Akames' had purpose, drive, and a strange gentleness to it, Rubys was full of anger and bloodlust a want for killing and a need for it, she knew this wasn't her sister, so she got up and ran towards the last place she knew who was responsible for it was

Ruby stood as she summoned two blades and quickly moved one behind her head just fast enough to block a bullet, turning around she glared at a man holding a rifle in one hand lowering it he fixed a bayonet to the front then rushed her

**(o)**

Slamming the classroom door open Yang quickly scanned the room, Esdeath was sitting at the desk reading her scroll only sparing Yang a glance

"What do you want Yang? If you're looking for pointers on how to make an entrance don't walk so loudly." Esdeath casually said as Yang stomped down the steps and quickly flipped Esdeath desk then swung at her, Esdeath lazily spun her chair avoiding the blow as she stood and kicked it at Yang who pushed it out of the way and tried to rush Esdeath only to be tripped by the woman, landing on the ground Yang kicked back one of her legs it got stomped on, hearing a crack Yang quickly retraced the now injured limb and nearly shouted in pain

"Are you done? Because James isn't a fan of me having pets." Esdeath asked coldly Yang glared at the woman her eyes turning a vibrant shade of red as she rose to her feet and prepared to attack again, Esdeath sighed and vanished into a cloud of blue rose petals which swarmed around a chair then flew to the door shut it and barred it with the chair Esdeath then spoke as she walked calmly down the stairs towards Yang "I will keep going until you give up. Whether if that's when you're too hurt to continue, or your mind breaks from pain." Yang rushed forward with a war cry, ready to beat the information she wanted from Esdeath as the woman casually slid her scroll into her pocket

**(o)**

Ruby blocked a stab from the rifle and elbowed the man, flipping backwards she swung up with both blades knocking the gun from his hands just as he jumped away from her, sprinting towards her now unarmed foe she dived out of the way of a bullet looking at the gun it was still aimed at her it then began to fire again and again, rolling away from every shot she kicked back her leg catching the assassin off guard he stumbled back blocking the strike with a pair of daggers running at her again he stabbed just as the gun fired

"_**Mahapadma" Ruby shouted on instinct causing the whole world to turn a blue-ish hue, looking up at the assassin he was frozen mid movement so was his bullet which was aimed at her, stepping out of the way it was now aimed at him, again as though she was moving on instinct she stabbed at the assassin feeling the blade ri**p_ through_ his flesh as time slowly started to speed up_ the assassin coughed up blood and his aura broke almost instantly after the bullet pierced his head, looking down at the man Ruby let out a dry laugh, he was strong... but not strong enough, she could control _time_ nothing could come close now, why hadn't Esdeath told her about this, maybe she wanted her to learn about it on her own, looking at the corpse she finally got a closer look at the mans clothing, he was dressed in white, blue, and red that was typical for the Atlas Military, that's another thing she had to talk to Esdeath about, turning around she began to walk away from the corpse leaving it to be discovered or to be eaten by the crows, she didn't care which.

**(o)**

Yang stood again the pain was almost too much to bare but she had to, she had to land at least one hit, for both her and Ruby. Yang growled as she put weight on her left leg and felt it buckle slightly

"Will you continue?" Esdeath asked her tone was bored and distracted

Yang growled then tried to stand on her left foot again but dropped to one knee "Just tell me what you did to Ruby." Yang ordered through pained breaths

"Well I suppose I could tell you. If you lick my boots." Esdeath said after a few moments of thought earning an angry look from Yang "You've lost and you still want something from me its only fair." Esdeath said calmly as Yang tried to stand again but failed earning a cold laugh from Esdeath "you're weak and thus the only way for you to survive is submission to the strong, you have two choices here you can obey and I'll speak at the expense of your pride or don't and you wont learn anything... and I may actually break your leg." Yang looked at Esdeath then her boot weighing her options

**(o)**

Qrow entered Ozpins office and saw how tired he looked

"You okay Oz?" Qrow asked as he walked up to his desk and leaned on it

"I'm fine... just tired, I've found a solid lead; Grimm have begun to congregate in mountain Glenn, so Esdeath was right about that place holding some significance, I want you to go there and keep an eye on the Grimm send numbers, types, and ages back to me and I'll alert everyone else." Ozpin said as he opened up a live feed from Mountain Glenn showing large groups of Grimm just loitering around

"Got it, I'll be back soon, Mountain Glenn isn't too far from here so its not like I'm going too far." Qrow agreed as he pushed off of Ozpins' desk and began towards the elevator "Just FYI, a text woulda made my round trip much quicker."

"Sorry, I've been so absorbed in work I really just needed the interaction." Ozpin apologized causing Qrow to chuckle a bit

"Now you're just brin' down the whole mood." Qrow snarked earning a smile from Ozpin as he leaned back in the elevator

as the elevator moved down Qrow sighed Akame wasn't gonna be happy, they just got back from a mission and now he was heading back to the sight of it, that was extremely dangerous in its own right and now there were apparently large groups of Grimm forming there, not happy at all.

**(o)**

Akame sat down, they had gone to three places to get food all of which Neo struggled to order things, Akame was there to clarify things between the workers and Neo, after a while of this Akame realized just how difficult it was for Neo to function without latching onto someone, how could she order food without someone? Or how could she buy food from the farmers market? Or how could she avoid socially awkward events that take place because shes buying almost seventy pounds worth of beef and the cashier cant figure out if it illegal or not, Akame felt that Neo was rather relate on people like her to flourish in the world around them. Her thoughts were distracted by her scroll ringing, drawling it from her pocket she read the message it was from father

[Hey kid, Oz gave me a new mission I'll be spending most of my time doing that but its near the city so I'll still be back around eight PM, if I'm not don't panic.]

[Okay, I'll try to keep a level head.] Akame replied and returned her scroll to her pocket, Neo watched as she texted him over her shoulder

"Its my father, he has a mission soon so I wont be able to see him as often as the past week." Akame explained as she slid the scroll back into her pocket Neo nodded slowly looking sad as they began to walk again, they walked and walked until they reached a park Akame sat down on a bench and Neo sat next to her

"Who was Roman to you?" Akame asked after a few quiet moments, Neo pointed to Akame then took out her scroll and pointed at it, Akame recognized that she was referring to her and fathers relationship meaning they were very similar when it comes to their parents

"I'm sorry that you cant see him anymore." Akame apologized causing Neo to shrugged and draw a circle with her finger a few times, Akame assumed that meant that him getting arrested was a pretty normal occurrence, Neo then lied down and placed her head in Akames lap as they continued to sit for the next few minutes

**(o)**

Yang gagged as she retraced her tongue from Esdeaths' boot as the woman looked at it with some amount of sadistic pleasure

"You may have a future as a bootlicker, now then want do you want?" Esdeath asked as she swung her leg kicking Yang upside her head sending her to the ground and causing her head to start bleeding, Esdeath laughed as Yang lied there in a dazed state "Now speak, or I'll assume you love the taste of my boots."

Yang struggled to do see, her vision was completely blurry and she couldn't think slowly it began to subside and she heard Esdeaths' voice again

"If you wanted to taste my boots you could have done something like this sooner." Esdeath said Yang shook her head quickly beginning to speak

"WHAT DI-" Yang began but Esdeath silenced her by putting her heel in Yangs' mouth causing her to gag again, pushing her foot forward Yang fell backward and began to cough

"I'm going for a walk to find Ruby, goodbye bootlicker." Esdeath said as she walked past Yang. After the door shut, Yang began to cry from pain, humiliation, rage, and failure

**(o)**

Ruby stormed down the hallway towards Esdeaths' classroom just as she turned the corner she ran into something very soft looking up she was greeted by Esdeath beautiful smile

"You seem a bit angry." Esdeath commented as Ruby tried to lean back but Esdeath stopped her by rapping her arms around her head, Ruby didn't resist she just closed her eyes and waited, after a few moments of waiting Ruby felt Esdeaths' arms leave the back of her head so she slowly stepped away

"Now then why are you stalking around like Qrow?" Esdeath asked Ruby blinked a few times her eyes locked onto Esdeaths' chest who was proud to present it to her

"I... I wanted to ask you if you send an assassin after me?" Ruby asked finally looking up at Esdeath

"Yes, I figured you needed experience against an assassin, how'd you do?" Esdeath asked, she knew Ruby was extremely conflicted right now but her smile was pure as ever

"I... may have killed him." Ruby said as she and Esdeath began to walk down the hall away from Esdeaths' class

"I want to hear everything, how did you manage it?" Esdeath asked her attention now fully on Ruby and her smile

Ruby smiled and began to describe the situation, how she felt, and finally how she killed him, Esdeath happily listened to the tale as she felt Rubys' soul grow more like hers with each brutal word that left her mouth.

**A/N Esdeath may be more like herself than any of us realized. Even me. As I said at the beginning I don't know if I like this chapter yet or not, I enjoyed writing it but I don't know if this is really how things would progress. I've finally gotten used to writing for Beacon students and faculty, but I really enjoy writing for Night Raid. I actually rewrote this chapter twice and the next chapter I've already rewrote it almost four times, and I might rewrite it again, this is the first time I'm so unsure of a chapter, I don't like this feeling.**


	12. Kill the Truth

Qrow leaned against a wall and covered his mouth after a few seconds he hear the sounds of movement slowly drawing near him as it drew closer Qrow placed his other hand on Harbingers hilt and waited after a few silent seconds the movement began to go away from him, letting out a sigh of relief he slid down the wall

"Shit... okay." Qrow quietly said as he leaned out from his cover and counted the number of Grimm near him, thirty-three Beowolves, seventeen Ursa, at least eighty Creeps, two Goliath, and seven Nevermore, Qrow sighed and looked up the building seeing a hole in the ceiling large enough for him to fit in, hopping up Qrow grabbed the edge and pulled himself up, rolling as he got up he heard movement downstairs, apparently he lucked out with his move, continuing upward he began to wonder why someone thought it was a good idea to build a high-rise with the interior completely sealed off, he just wanted one window, or a fire escape, but apparently safety wasn't this contractors priority.

**(o)**

Akame sat up from her bed to a muffled cry, standing up she placed her earn on the wall between her and RWBYs' room she continued to her muffled crying from their room, quickly exiting her room into the hall she knocked on their door, after a few moments the door opened and Blake stepped aside, Akame walked past her and saw that both Ruby and Yang were having nightmares of their own it seemed.

"What happened to them?" Akame asked as she walked over to Ruby who kept shivering and swinging her arms swatting at something in her mind

"I don't know, Yang came back to the room and fell asleep with out a word. Ruby came back and did the same, I don't know whats going on." Weiss answered her concern rising, Akame did the only thing she could think of and pulled Ruby into a hug, her crying didn't stop but after a while it began to quiet, after she fell silent Akame looked over Ruby

"Its cold..." Ruby quietly mumbled with a shiver

"Move Yang over here, I'll stay with them as long as I need to." Akame said, she and Blake then moved Yang to Rubys bed while Weiss watched over Ruby, Akame put Rubys blanket over both of them and then sat on Yangs' bed watching them

"You two should get as much sleep as you can, you have three hours and ten minutes before classes start." Akame said as she sat watching Ruby and Yang as they snuggled together under the blankets Akame put over them

"Okay, but what about you?" Blake asked as she sat at one of the desks

"I'll watch them, they're my family so I'll watch them." Akame answered neutrally

**(\\_/)**

_Ruby blocked strike after strike her blades shattering with every one, kicking her leg out she caught her attacker in the jaw sending her to the ground the figure then sat up and pressed a button on her arm sending the fist into Rubys jaw falling to the ground she rolled back from the momentum, she felt a bunch of strings rap around her limbs, struggling to move another figure ran forward and slammed her fist into her jaw their hands then rapped around her throat slowly growing tighter and tighter, struggling to move due to the wires and the lack of oxygen, finally another figure showed up and plunged a familiar Katana into her heart and everything went black_

"_AHHH!" Ruby finally screamed and slammed her eyes shut_

"_STOP SCREAMING!" Ruby heard and she quickly complied "Who are you?" the man asked, he had long green hair with a pair of goggles on his head_

"_Who are you?! Where am I!? Whats going on!?" Ruby rapidly questioned as she looked around the cabin finding herself in an unfamiliar location _

"_I'm Lubbock, you're in our cabin, and I don't know." He answered as he kneeled next to her and looked her over "You look fine... a little too innocent but otherwise you're fine."_

"_What?"_

**(o)**

"_I suddenly feel the urge to punch something green..." Qrow mumbled to himself as he limped towards the infirmary_

**(\\_/)**

"_Nothing, I'll go get Tatsumi, he's better with woman than I am... sadly." Lubbock said as he stood and walked towards the kitchen before pausing and spoke "Don't leave just yet, lets figure out whats going on with you first." he said then exited the room, looking around again Ruby couldn't seem to understand how she got here, she had to be dreaming there was no other reason for this, its all just one big nightmare_

"_Yo, who are you?" A woman's voice came from the staircase, looking over to them Ruby saw a very pretty girl with long orange hair with red eyes, she had a pair of headphones on her head and was dressed like she would fit right in at Beacon_

"_I'm... Ruby... who are you?" Ruby answered as she moved away from the girl_

"_You seem pretty discombobulated, hows 'bout you and me talk a bit try and see if we can figure this out." she said and sat down on the couch then pat the spot next to her, Ruby hesitantly sat next to her "So, whats the last thing you remember?"_

"_I... fell asleep, I started to dream about killing Grimm then... these... shadows showed up and... killed me... now I'm here." Ruby answered the girl nodded a few times the reached into one of her vest pockets and drew out two lollipops and held one out to Ruby who took it_

"_Hm... I've talked to some of the people in the village about things like that after Esdeath showed up here-" the girl began but was cut off by Ruby_

"_Wait you know Esdeath!?" Ruby asked nearly choking on the lollipop_

"_Yeah, one of her subordinates killed me, Kurome. How do you know her?" she answered leaning back on the couch placing her hands behind her head_

"_She show- ow!" Ruby began but quickly jumped away from the girl after feeling a prick on her neck_

"_There, now you cant lie! Just in case." the woman said happily as she spun a needle in her fingers_

"_She, showed up three weeks after Akame came back with Uncle Qrow." Ruby answered then quickly covered her mouth_

"_Oh, you know Akame and Qrow! I am so sorry then, I kinda jumped the gun there." she quickly apologized the stabbed herself in with a different needle "There, now we're in the same boat. I'm Chelsea by the way."_

"_Who are you to Qrow?" Ruby asked as she rubbed her neck_

"_In my time in Night Raid I liked him, he may have decked me in the face but I really wanted to get to know him better and do other things after I found out he basically tortured himself trying to save me but Leone beat me to that." Chelsea answered with a slow blush growing on her cheeks_

"_Okay... gross... Akame told me you died... how are you not?" Ruby asked again_

"_I am, this is the afterlife but everyone has different names for it. Heaven, Hell, Nirvana, Arcadia, Azure, Zion, Shangri-la, Canaan, Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Eternal Retribution, etc. My turn; How did Esdeath get out of here, I mean Bulat told her how to get out of here but... I didn't really expect her to... you know, survive. From what I've heard its an extremely dangerous journey that few people survive." Chelsea said as she leaned back in her seat_

"_I don't know how she survived but shes been manipulating all of us sense shes gotten here, I knew that but after a while it didn't matter." Ruby answered then began to speak to herself "Why wouldn't I care?"_

"_Esdeath has always been a manipulator, you wouldn't be the first to be tricked by her and know it. Here." Chelsea said and held out a new needle to her "That has the same poison that's in us on it but its a lot stronger, when you start to leave here if you concentrate on this needle you'll bring it with you, then all you have to do is jab her with it and it'll force her to admit everything you ask her, good luck with that one though."_

"_Thanks? But I don't want her to die." Ruby said as she took the needle_

"_Well were not dead yet so I can assure you Esdeath will barely feel it, apart from you know the confessions." Chelsea waved off then then stood in scilence for a few moments before Chelsea spoke again "Has anyone ever told you that you're really pretty?"_

"_I'm back and I got Tatsumi!" Lubbock called as he and a new man walked through the kitchen door preventing Ruby from answering_

"_What the hell is wrong with you!?" Chelsea shouted at him "She just showed up here and the first thing you did was run and get Tatsumi! That took you so long what if she ran off into the forest and no one ever saw her again!? You woulda been the death of her!" Chelsea continued to shout at him_

"_Hi, I'm Tatsumi the defacto leader until Najenda gets here." Tatsumi greeted as he gestured for Ruby to follow him as he walked into the kitchen, quickly chasing after him she ducked under a needle thrown at Lubbock who dodged and ran out the front screaming_

**(\\_/)**

_Entering the kitchen Ruby looked around, it looked like the one back home the only difference was that the table was made of wood, Tatsumi was currently cooking something and another man who was massive and had a pompadour in the shape of a heart was sitting at the table_

"_Bulat this is... I'm sorry I forgot to ask your name." Tatsumi began but quickly turned to her and waited for her to answer_

"_I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." Ruby answered feeling the light haze on her mind slowly fading away_

"_Good to meet you, I'm Bulat." the newly named Bulat greeted with a wave_

"_So, how'd you end up here?"_

"_Actually, Tatsumi can I asked you for your help on something else?" Ruby asked slight embarrassment growing along with a blush_

"_Seriously Tatsumi how can you get so many people to get attracted to you so quickly?" Bulat asked causing Ruby groan and speak_

"_Ew no, I don't even like guys like that... I think... but I'm stuck in a relationship with Esdeath, how'd you deal with that?" Ruby quickly shot down earning a laugh from Bulat and a sigh from Tatsumi_

"_I don't think I can, most of the time that I spent with her I was used as a body pillow, and then almost every time after that nearly dying, but Qrow had it way worse than me."_

"_Everyone keeps saying that Uncle Qrow got so hurt when he was in the empire but he doesn't act any different than normal." Ruby said earning shocked looks from both Tatsumi and Bulat_

"_You... you're related to Qrow?" Tatsumi asked Ruby nodded "Your uncle is an asshole, but hes a good guy. He was super effected by Leones' death though, she kept an eye on him ever sense she died." Tatsumi said his voice was light like he was talking about a family member he hadn't seen in years_

"_He... he never said anything to us, I don't think he said anything to Akame either."_

"_She probably already knows, she just hasn't approached him about it." Tatsumi waved off as he turned and placed a plate in front of her she finally began to think about where she was and quickly questioned the two people present_

"_How long will I be here... did I die!?" Ruby asked horror filling her mind_

"_No, but you're near it. This mainly happens to people who are on their deathbeds a little too early, its a state where you see the afterlife but it'll all feel like your life is flashing before your eyes. So that means your soul is dying but you're not dying." Bulat explained as Tatsumi began to wash the dishes_

"_Okay, but Chelsea gave me this." Ruby said as she held up a needle "She said I can bring it with me, is that true."_

"_Yeah, you just gotta make sure you remember it then when you wake up your memories and reality will struggle to match up, thus giving you the needle. Sadly that doesn't work with all dreams, only near death ones." Bulat answered calmly "Just be careful with that thing though, Esdeath could take a hit from it but... I don't really think she'd be happy about it."_

"_I'm scared now." Ruby said staring at the needle_

"_Yeah, not even I did that so... good luck." Tatsumi said earning a deadpanned look from Ruby as time ticked forward "I thought you would have vanished by now..."_

"_What makes you say that?" Ruby asked now glaring at him_

"_You're... kinda... transparent." Tatsumi answers causing Ruby to look down at her slowly fading body she then covered her mouth preventing herself from vomiting "Careful if you focus on that you'll end up without the needle and just vomiting, that's a no win situation." Tatsumi quickly said Ruby nodded and held up the needle in front of her face staring at it until she completely vanished along with the needle_

"_She looked like Esdeath for a second there right?" Tatsumi asked earning a nod from Bulat_

"_Yeah, yeah she did... I hope Akames doing okay." Bulat said Tatsumi then went back to washing the dishes_

**(o)**

Akame sat watching Ruby slowly stop crying after a few moments she quickly sat up and vomit then looked at her right hand

"It worked..." Ruby grumbled then looked around

"Ruby, are you okay?" Akame asked earning the girls attention

"I'm fine... and I got this thing." Ruby said holding up a needle earning a confused look from Akame

"Where'd you get that? No... how'd you get that?" Akame asked staring at the needle

"I don't know... but you should Gather everyone; my team, Uncle Qrow, Professor Ozpin and Goodwitch, we're going to have a hopefully short conversation with Esdeath after classes today." Ruby said as she hopped from her bed

"What about Yang?" Akame asked hopping down from Yangs' bed and pointed up at Rubys bed where Yang was quietly sobbing

"What happened to her?" Ruby asked feeling no concern for her sister but she knew she should

"No idea, I've just been watching over you two for the first few classes, Blake and Weiss have been gathering our work so we wont miss anything." Akame answered as she drew her scroll and began to type on it "Do you want me to bring Murasame?" Akame asked

"Yes, just in case. Also I'm sorry for how I've acted the past few days, I wasn't myself." Ruby apologized as she walked to the door, Akame nodded

"Its fine." Akame waved off as Ruby shut the door and left

**(o)**

Classes moved swiftly,Yang and Akame joined RWB after lunch, then something unexpected occurred in combat class

"Now then, I feel today would be a good idea to have a bit of fun." Esdeath said as she leaned on her desk "Today, I'll be pairing you up against each other in matches that seem fair or unfair it doesn't matter to me who you go up against, it could be your own teammates, you must be prepare for anything in your profession, even betrayal." Esdeath explained as she pressed the randomize button on her scroll. Ruby felt her fear rise, she felt that Esdeath knew, she couldn't figure out how she could have figured it out or-

"Ruby Rose verses Akame Branwen... interesting." Esdeath called causing Ruby to gasp and Akame to stand, both of them walked into the changing room and Ruby began to panic

"I cant do this Akame, I cant!" She said rapidly pacing back and forth "I've been struggling to keep my head on straight this whole time! I don't wanna betray any of you!" Ruby continued until Akame grabbed her and smacked her on top of the head

"Regardless of what we want we have to go out there and fight, Esdeath cant be made suspicious of us. If she is then we're all dead." Akame calmly said resting her hands on Rubys shoulders

"But if I fight I lose myself, I can't control it I'll lose myself again!" Ruby denied earning another smack from Akame

"Then ignore your instincts, they serve you well but they also can lead to your downfall." Akame said as Ruby rubbed the top of her head where Akame had hit her "You can rely on your instincts to guide your hand but if you rely on them you will be nothing but a tool for those who know how to exploit you." Akame continued

"But-" Ruby began as Akame raised her hand again "Wait! How are you so calm on the battlefield?"

Akame smiled at her and spoke "I have you all to act as my anchor; you, Yang, Taiyang, father, and even Raven... sometimes."

"Is it really that simple?" Ruby asked her fear still clear on her face and in her mind

"Its as simple as you let it be, you think that your mind acts on its own but you control everything you do; you chose to let your instincts win, you chose to enjoy killing all those people, you chose to let Esdeath control you. Now what are you going to choose? Are you going to correct that mistake or are you going to choose to lose yourself to her?" Akame said causing Ruby many feelings of guilt but also the brutal reality Akame constantly brought her, its always been her choice, she just chose not to see it

"You're right, I'm going to correct this." Ruby said finally finding her confidence

"As father would say 'Words are cheap'." Akame said smiling warmly at Ruby how nodded confidently

**(o)**

Exiting into the arena Ruby summoned a pair of blades looked at them for a few seconds then looked back at Akame and took a calming breath, Akame raised Murasame and prepared to defend herself from an assault

"The match ends when one combatant is unable to fight, aura regeneration is allowed, and the match continues even after one combatant aura is shattered." Esdeath said earning a nod from both "The match begins in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... begin!"

Ruby rushed Akame and swung both her blades, Akame deflected both strikes and kicked Ruby in the gut, stumbling back Ruby swung again and flipped backward summoning a few shards of ice and launched them at Akame who easily avoided all of them and closed the distance swinging downward

"**Mahap-"** Ruby began but it was too late her Aura shattered Akame flipped and kicked her upside the head knocking her out

Turning around Akame looked at Esdeath, she looked furious and glared at her after a few tense seconds of glaring she sighed then spoke "Akame wins, please take Ruby to the infirmary and return after." Akame nodded and picked up Ruby then exited the room

"Next match will be, Cinder Fall verses Weiss Schnee, have fun out there you two." Esdeath said as the two rose to their feet

**(o)**

Entering the infirmary Akame lied Ruby down and shook her lightly

"Ruby... you okay?" Akame asked as the girl blinked her eyes a few times

"I'm okay..." Ruby drowsily answered as she sat up

"Good, good..." Akame happily said as she gave Ruby some of her Aura to kick start her own again she then hugged Ruby and spoke quietly "Find somewhere easily accessible to hide that needle; in your sleeves cloth would be a good spot. There's no telling if were being watched or not so do it discreetly." Akame the let go of her and kissed her on the forehead and exited the room

"She would make a good mom..." Ruby said after Akame was out of earshot

"Ms. Rose? How are you feeling? Its rare that we see you in here." the doctor happily asked

"I'm fine, I just lost a match with Akame. But I wouldn't doubt that more people would be ending up in here today were doing all out matches today." Ruby said earning a groan from the doctor

"I completely forgot that was today." He groaned then blinked a few times "You wouldn't happen to have a twin would you?"

"N-" Ruby began but her mouth was covered by... her own hand? Looking up she saw herself smiling down at her

"Yeah, I'm a bit older then her but we chose two very different careers, I'm not big on fighting I was going to come visit her and her team but... I guess I'll just start with her." she happily explained earning a nod from the doctor

"Is that true Ms. Rose?" the doctor asked earning a nod from Ruby "Alright I'll leave you two then."

"Well, _little sis_, how've you been?" Sarah asked sitting down next to Ruby before she could speak Sarah spoke again

"You know, I've heard some... interesting things coming through the wiretap we got on you and your team." Sarah said earning a fearful look from Ruby "Don't worry too much, I'm the only one who knows. Now, I could tell Esdeath like I should, but I see this as a good opportunity to get you and your team on a leash."

"I could just kill you and take it." Ruby threatened, it was empty but she hopped her bluff was good enough to dissuade her

Sarah laughed a bit "That's funny kid, you couldn't kill me on a good day, but A for effort. Now are you gonna accept the deal or are you going to try and kill me? But if you do try and kill me and fail, you will never forget what I do to you." Sarah replied, Ruby couldn't tell if she was bluffing or not and she was terrifying even if she wasn't bluffing if Esdeath found out it was all over. Ruby may like being a huntress but for some reason everything her first year at Beacon has been very delicate and time orientated

"Fine." Ruby said looking down, this wouldn't last too long but it would make things a lot easier if Esdeath didn't learn about their plan

"Good, now strip." Sarah said earning a shocked look from Ruby

"What? I need to get my copy of you perfect, so I need to make sure my body is identical to yours. I might do other things but we'll cross that bridge." Sarah waved off with a sight blush, this was a very awkward situation for Ruby and hopefully the last one

**(o)**

Akame reentered the classroom, Weiss was beaten rather badly, Yang was mostly fine, Blake was fine, Pyrrha was fine, Nora and Ren were both beaten rather badly, Jaune wasn't in the room, Cardin was injured but was mostly fine, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury, were fine, their teammate was happily watching as two students beat each other into bloody pulps, she never introduced herself but something about her was familiar ignoring that fact she sat down next to Yang, Akame leaned over and spoke

"How did so many matches go through so quickly? I was only gone for twenty minutes." Akame asked Yang looked over to her for a few seconds and the continued to watch the fight and spoke

"The matches haven't been lasting as long as I expected. Most of them ended really quickly. As Weiss over here could tell you." Yang answered neutrally earning a strike from Weiss which she shrugged off

"Right, I'll keep my eyes open then." Akame confirmed and focused on the fight

**(o)**

Qrow leaned on the wall of Glyndas classroom waiting for the students to leave

"Its time, you wanna wait a minute or...?" Qrow asked as he uncrossed his arms

"Lets go now." Glynda answered as she downed her medication

"Right, I assume if things go south you and Oz will be hopping in, yeah?" Qrow asked as they exited the room

"Yeah, did you manage to reach Raven?"

"After our last conversation? No, we gotta deal with this one without her." Qrow answered as he stalked down the hall much to Glyndas annoyance

"I know I'm not one to talk about family matters but your family is ridiculous." Glynda commented earning a nod from Qrow

"I'm not gonna deny the truth." Qrow agreed earning a scoff from Glynda

"Yeah... I'm sure." she commented sarcastically

"Most of the time." Qrow then added she rolled her eyes at that and they came to a stop in front of the class he then whispered "Hide your presence as well as you can and don't move a muscle then prey that she doesn't notice you, this'll go one of two ways." Qrow said as Glynda nodded and quietly moved away to where she and Ozpin would be meeting up

Entering the room Yang, Blake, and Weiss were all sitting around, Esdeath was sitting at her desk reading something off her scroll

"Wheres Ruby and Akame?" Qrow asked as he walked down the steps and leaned on Esdeaths' desk

"Akames' gone to go get her from the infirmary." Yang answered her eyes locked on Esdeath who occasionally smiled at her, no one said a word after that and the atmosphere slowly grew very tense

**(o)**

Entering the infirmary again Akame was greeted by a strange sight, Ruby was almost completely naked and... Ruby was... studying her body

"Whats going on?" Akame asked earning both pairs of silver eyes to jump to her

"Holy... shit..." the clothed Ruby said staring at Akame her jaw hanging

"AKAME! THIS... this... me-you-checked-to-with-to-do... that's not me that's one of Esdeath soldiers! She knows the plan its all part of a deal I'm not really comfortable with!" Ruby quickly tried to find the words Akame slowly drew Murasame and pointed it at the Ruby who was staring blankly at her

"I will eliminate you." Akame said the impostor made no effort to move attack or anything just let her eyes wander all across Akame who prepared to attack

"You're... perfect..." the impostor said her eyes quickly filling with lust and she slowly walked towards Akame studying every last inch of her "Completely... perfect..." Akame ignored her and held Murasames' blade in her path, she walked right into it shattering her Aura, that snapped her out of her stupor and she jumped back landing on her knees "Please dominate me!" she begged earning a disgusted look from Akame

"The desire to be owned is a weakness that Esdeath readily exploited in you." Akame said aiming the blade at her again "You were broken by your past and decided to free yourself. But freedom wasn't what you wanted was it? You wanted someone to stop you, and put you back in the dirt that you were so familiar with the taste of correct?" Akame asked the impostor who was looking up at her from the floor looking completely pathetic, Ruby couldn't understand where her conviction and confidence went now she was acting like a dog, Ruby was broken from thought when Akame spoke again "You lost your purpose when no one could kill you, you lost people who could beat you when you learned to mimic them with your body and actions right?" another nod from the impostor "So when Esdeath defeated you you found your purpose again. You chose slavery over freedom, you chose to abandon something I have killed in the name of, for the thing I was fighting against." Akame spoke her voice carrying little emotion in it

"Please! I'll be good! I wo-" the impostor began to beg but was silenced by Akames hand covering her mouth

"This blade," Akame began and held up Murasame in her vision "will kill you if you cut yourself on it." Akame then uncovered her mouth and spoke again "Cut yourself with it."

"Wait don't do it shes not lying!" Ruby quickly said and the impostor hesitated a bit, Akame took Murasame away from the woman and sheath it

"You're not completely broken." Akame said then slammed her fist into the side of the womans' head knocking her out "Lets move her to your bed, then go get the truth." Ruby nodded and pulled the woman up and moved her to the bed, after exiting the room Ruby was surprised by the presence of Neo who smiled and waved at her

"Akame?" Ruby began but left the obvious question in the air

"I asked Neo to tag along in case things went sideways." Akame answered as they began towards Esdeaths' class

**(o)**

Akame entered the classroom alongside Ruby both were surprised to see Qrow there before them, Akame immediately hugged him and Ruby smiled at him

"Now that everyone is here, we can begin." Esdeath said as Ruby leaned on the railing behind her "As both Ruby and Akame have already heard the name I'll quickly catch everyone else up, Salem. Salem is a foe that me, Qrow, the other headmasters of the huntsman academies, James and a few other people know of. She is the master that the Grimm answer to, and her human forces are here." Esdeath said as she stood and leaned next to Ruby

"I thought the Grimm were mindless beast, if what you're saying is true then why hide it?" Ruby asked as Esdeath placed a hand on her shoulder

"That's one I can answer properly." Qrow cut in before Esdeath could speak "People across the world would panic if they knew our enemy, so Oz elected to keep it a secret, I agreed until I had to deal with Esdeath and her cronies. I saw how people can come together against a common foe."

"Even then, he chose to hide it from you." Esdeath said looking to Akame

"He had a perfect reason to do so." Akame waved off calmly

"I agree with Esdeath on this one though, I should have trusted you but I didn't." Qrow said as Akame placed her hand on his

"Think nothing of it, I know you would have told me sooner or later." Akame calmly answered him

"How can you be so calm? Their spewing nonsense, they have to be." Weiss spat looking to her team for support

"Oh don't worry, the part about magic is harder to believe." Qrow snarked rolling his eyes at her

"Is that how you can turn into a bird?" Akame asked looking to him

"What?" Ruby asked looking to her uncle

"I'm actually curious about that myself. James said that only the Maidens had magic so I assumed that was part of your semblance." Esdeath added her attention turning from Ruby to Qrow

"Yeah, that's a bit of magic Oz gave me." Qrow confirmed

"Do it!" Ruby cheered now completely interested, Qrow sighed and in an instant he was gone replaced by a crow which Akame quickly held her wrist out to, hopping onto her wrist she lifted him to eye level

"Fascinating..." Esdeath commented studying him

"That's sooo cute!" Ruby cheered walking around Akame looking at the crow

"Well Weiss... I can safely say... you're wrong." Yang said also getting up and looking at the crow on Akames' wrist

"But if magic exists then... why doesn't everyone know? Why doesn't everyone have it?" Blake asked also looking at the bird

"That's because not many people have it, and the people that do don't really wanna be found." Esdeath said earning everyone's attention again "While magic exists only six individuals have it at one time; Summer, Spring, Winter, and Fall, the four maidens from the old children story, Ozpin and I can only assume Salem. Personally I feel they should all be grouped together with someone powerful." Esdeath said earning many dark thoughts from everyone present "But that's not what matters, what matters is that with how things are right now one of the maidens has been placed into a critical state and will die soon." as Esdeath spoke Akame placed the crow back on the ground and he transformed back to normal

"We probably got until the end of the tournament before they try anything, so we can wait a while. What is a problem is that we need someone to inherent the powers." Qrow added then pointed at both Akame and Ruby and spoke "No."

"What about me?!" Yang asked in outrage

"You're an adult." Qrow waved off

"And Akame isn't?" Yang asked again earning a raised eyebrow from Akame

"She mature, and if she chose to take the power her life would be exactly the same as if she stayed in the empire, that's the whole reason I brought her here, to not have to deal with that." Qrow explained looking to Akame

"I'll listen to you father, but if we have no other choice I will do what I must." Akame answered bowing slightly, Qrow nodded in understanding

"Now, on to the relics. Creation, Knowledge, Destruction, Choice; all are relics given by the 'gods' to humanity, they all act as conduits of their specific power. Ozpin nor James would tell me what they specifically do, but know their powerful in their own rights." Esdeath said as she sat back down and pulled out a few sheets of paper "Each relic are locked in vaults with corresponding maidens, James never told me the pattern though." Esdeath said looking deep in though for a few moments until Qrows voice pulled her from thought

"Winter for creation, Summer is destruction, Fall; choice, Spring; knowledge." Qrow answered as he and Akame leaned on the railing "I'd assumed at first that James gave you winters powers, but I was surprised that he's not that stupid."

"I see it as unfortunate, imagine Demons Extract combined with the power of the winter maiden." Esdeath countered, that statement earned the fear of everyone in the room but Qrow

"Yeah, I did. Their reaction is about right." Qrow said gesturing to everyone in the room, Esdeath hummed in agreement

"Well now that you all know, will you stand against Salem with us?" Esdeath asked

"I will." Ruby agreed

"Me too, I cant let my lil sister fight the big bad all on her own." Yang agreed happily as she glared at Esdeath

"I'll stand with my friends." Blake agreed

"I agree, no matter how absurd this sounds." Weiss agreed with a sigh

"I came here to stand with father and that's what I shall do." Akame agreed as she smiled at Qrow who smiled back

"Good, now then." Esdeath said looking over the sheets of paper "Lets see..." Esdeath began but gasped when she felt a sharp strike to the back of her neck, quickly standing she swung her fist back and caught Ruby sending her into the wall, reaching behind her she yanked a needle from the neck after releasing a pained yelp Esdeath spoke

"Dammit, what was in that?! ANSWER!?" Esdeath roared and snapped her fingers a few shards of ice appeared but quickly fell apart after she shimmered red

"WHAT DOES YOUR SEMBLANCE DO!?" Ruby shouted back as she stood summoning two blades

"It merges two or more souls into one, the strongest of the number will eventually overpower the others and subjugate all the others until they act just like the winner." Esdeath answered quickly then covered her mouth hearing the doors slam open three people entered turning around she saw Glynda, Ozpin, and Neo

"Why would you use it on Ruby?" Akame asked as everyone prepared to fight if they needed

"I wanted her to be like me, I didn't want to lose another I loved to your idiotic self-sacrificial ideals!" Esdeath shouted in rage "**WHAT DID YOU POISON ME WITH!?**" Esdeath shouted again her fury only quelled by her now physical weakness

"A strong truth serum and poison." Ruby answered "I didn't like what I was becoming so, Akame helped me." she then walked up to Esdeath who growled at her like an animal

"Ms. Rose I recommend you move away from her." Ozpin advised taking a small step forward as Ruby let the blades of ice fade away

"Esdeath, I do love you." Ruby said ignoring Ozpin "But I'd rather you love me for me, and not what you want me to be."

"I do, but-" Esdeath tried to speak but was cut off by Ruby

"No buts!" Ruby said then placed her hands on Esdeaths' shoulders "You can either love me, or the idea of me. You cant have your cake and eat it too."

"What does that even mean?!" Esdeath asked her voice shaking a bit

"I don't know, Uncle Qrow used to say it when I was little." Ruby said as she scratched the back of her head

"It means you cant both have something and use it, the use of the word cake is just the simplest way of putting it, you can either have Ruby for who she is, or lose her entirely." Qrow clarified earning an 'Oh' from both of them

"Fine..." Esdeath placed both her hands of Rubys cheeks then everything fell unnaturally quiet for Ruby

_**I revoke my strength, I revoke my power, I revoke my experience, I ask for nothing in return, please don't deny me...**_

"I wont deny you." Ruby said after she felt her soul return to her in full, it was like finally seeing a relative you haven't seen in years

"It will be a few months before you are completely back to normal, or whatever normal is for you now, your soul wont forget everything that's happened to it but, you wont be able to use Demon's Extract... I think..." Esdeath said she then spoke her thoughts out loud "Maybe if you drank some of my blood you'll be able to use it again... if you wouldn't mind could we test that later?" Esdeath asked as she struggled to stand but was quickly supported by Ruby

"I don't mind but we should get that poison out of you." Ruby said as they walked to the door leaving everyone behind as they left

"So... Neo... what'd you hear?" Qrow asked turning to her, Neo stretched her arms out and made a few gestures to him, his height, then brought her hand to the ground

"Shes saying basically all of it." Akame added, earning a happy nod from Neo

"Oz!" Qrow whined "I don't wanna deal with this!"

"Akame, Neo, please come with me. We'll talk about Neos spot in this brotherhood." Ozpin said with a sigh, both quickly followed after him leaving WBY Glynda and Qrow alone in Esdeaths' class room

"Soooo..." Yang began "_Father_?" Yang asked looking to Qrow followed by everyone else

"What? I didn't force her to do that." Qrow defected looking a bit embarrassed

"I think its cute." Glynda said smiling at him "You're now your own little fucked family."

"Did... um... professor?" Weiss asked slightly concerned for her teachers health

"What? Weiss we fought that woman, and we all nearly fought her again, you nearly died. I don't give a damn, in my book you four are all huntsman." Glynda said as she turned to the door "Now then, you five, RWBY and Akame, wont have classes tomorrow, we were expecting that this was going to end in a fight... but I'm sure its fine if I 'forget' to retract the excused absence message sent out." Glynda said as she exited the room earning surprised looks from WBY

"Welcome to the club kids, it only gets harder from here." Qrow said as he exited the room too

**(o)**

Ozpin sat at his desk as Neo and Akame did the same across from him

"I'm assuming you'll want compensation to keep quiet... no pun intended." Ozpin asked calmly, Neo shook her head then pointed at Akame then herself and then intertwined her fingers

"I believe she wants to be on my team." Akame said again Neo nodded happily

"I... don't think I can do that, You have a reputation that cant be ignored." Ozpin said sadly Neo snapped her fingers and reached into her coat then the other side of the coat then she reached into Akames coat and pulled our Romans hat

"How did you do that?" Akame asked pure amazement on her face Ozpin could have sworn she looked like a little girl, Neo looked deep in thought for a few moments trying think of a way to explain it and settled for shrugging, she pointed at the hat then herself then Akame then Ozpin

"Do you want our excuse to be, you sold Roman out to Akame who then told me?" Ozpin tried to piece together, Neo nodded "That may work... I'll have to talk with some people, you should be a member of Akames' team after the Vytal festival." Ozpin explained earning a pout from Neo, Ozpin chuckled at that "No need to worry, if you wish to stay here for the night you'll be under Akames' supervision."

**(o)**

Ruby helped Esdeath along, after entering the infirmary they entered a private room, Ruby helped Esdeath lie in the bed but was stunned and horrified when Esdeath grabbed her throat and yanked her forward, Esdeath slammed her lips into Rubys and held them together for as long as Ruby could stand, after releasing her Ruby began to gasp for air

"You executed your plan perfectly, and you hid your intent as well as Akame could, you are truly a formidable force." Esdeath complemented warmly, but such a thing was short lived as the air quickly became cold and she spoke in a serious tone afterwards "But the next time you plot against me, I will put your collar back on." Rubys eyes widened at that, she didn't like having that collar on and it was more a prison then anything, looking from Esdeaths' eyes her gaze drifted down to the tattoo over her heart

"You could be more discreet about staring." Esdeath commented causing Ruby to blush and stumble over her words

"N-No! I was... I wasn't- I mean, I was looking but-" Ruby tried to explain without sounding like a liar

"I know." Esdeath calmly replied as she unbuttoned her coat and pulled it off leaving her completely exposing her chest, Ruby wasn't normally fazed by nudity but Esdeath was a different case she couldn't stop her mind from wandering to things that Yang would tease her for thinking

her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of snapping "Ruby?" Esdeath asked Rubys struggled to move her eye from her chest back to her eyes

"Yeah?" Ruby questioned barely thinking of anything but Esdeath

"I asked if you could hold onto my clothes for me. Their not that dirty but I'm going to sleep and I'd rather be comfortable." Esdeath repeated as she held her clothes out to Ruby

"Of course! I'll even wash them with ours if you want." Ruby offered earning a smile from Esdeath

"That would be nice, thank you." Esdeath thanked as Ruby took her uniform, after saying their goodbyes Ruby left and Esdeath began to cough up blood

"That poison _is_ strong." Esdeath commented as she stared at the bloody hand "But it wont get the better of me."

**(o)**

Qrow was leaned on the wall of the room watching Neo as she gestured to Akame and Akame replied, it was quite surprising that Akame had such an easy time understanding what Neo was saying

"Well I'm gonna leave you two now." Qrow finally said gaining both of their attention "I'm gonna head to the infirmary and get myself checked up, then head to Amity." he explained

"Why are you going to Amity?" Akame asked looking from him to Neo

"Oz wants me to do a once over of the place." Qrow answered earning a nod from both of them again

"Okay, but be careful." Akame said then she stood and hugged Qrow who hugged her back

"Its just an arena, whats the worst possible out come? I get into a fight?" Qrow asked sarcastically earning an eye roll from Neo

"I don't want your sass." Qrow snarked Neo just stuck out her tongue at him "Alright I'm gonna go now before I have to beat up your girlfriend." Qrow said as he dived out her window

"I- SHES NOT!" Akame shouted in embarrassment at him as he flew away, turning back to Neo who winked at her with a grin causing Akame to blush slightly

**(o)**

Ozpin sat in his office staring at Amity, he didn't know what the future held right now, but he knew at the very least that Salem was going to strike soon, after a few minutes of staring he heard his scroll start ringing spinning around he grabbed it and held it to his ear

"Ozpin its James, I wanted to ask you something but I haven't had the time to call until now." Ironwoods voice came after he answered

"What is it James?" Ozpin asked as he spun back and stared ant Amity

"Esdeath, you said Qrow ran into her before on another world. How did he get there?" Ironwood asked earning a sigh from Ozpin

"I don't know, I may have extensive knowledge on many subjects but that's one that continues to evade me. I have never heard or seen such a thing happen, but I suppose Qrows' lucky enough to come back alive. From what he told me it almost turned out differently many times." Ozpin said earning a tired sound from Ironwood

"How could such a thing never be recorded! By anyone! Anywhere! I've spent the past few weeks attempting to find something that backs Qrow and Esdeaths' claims but I cant find anything! Nothing!" Ironwood exploded in anger "You were my last resort, if you don't know anything then... How is it possible?"

"No idea, but when you get as old as me surprises are always nice." Ozpin said contently

"I'll... call you later Oz, I just got... something very concerning." Ironwood said his voice holding slight panic in it and he hung up

Ozpin sighed and turned his chair back around and began to type on his computer attempting to find random disappearances that occurred in the past few years

**(o)**

Walking down the bleachers Qrow looked around seeing generally nothing, originally Esdeaths' solders were supposed to handle this but Ozpin didn't trust that so Qrow was doing it, walking down the steps and jumping over the railing he walked to the center of the arena and looked around again nothing suspicious, he was purposefully doing a very quick search because the place was massive and he was searching it alone so speed was preferred.

**(o)**

Reaching their room Ruby looked down at Esdeath's clothes, she was surprised by how soft they were, that was only a minor issue compared to the other one, which was far stranger, she felt compelled to check and see if they smelled like Esdeath, but thinking like that made her feel weird so she continued to push those thoughts down, knocking on the door it was opened by Weiss

"Hey Ruby, how'd it go after you left?" she asked letting Ruby in, Yang was lying on Blakes' bed, Blake was doing some work for Oobleck if the history book was anything to go by, and Weiss was also doing work but for what looked to be Grimm studies

"It went pretty good." Ruby said as she jumped up onto her bed

"What are those lil sis?" Yang asked as she sat up from Blakes' bed

"Their Esdeaths' clothes." Ruby answered looking at them

"Oh... why?" Yang asked growing both suspicious and what Ruby could only assume scared

"She doesn't like sleeping in lots of clothes, its either nothing or a white button up." Ruby said her voice slowly growing more and more distant as she stared at the uniform in her lap

"Ruby!" Yang called causing Ruby to jump in surprise "You doin' okay? You seem more than a little distracted." Yang said looking suspiciously at her

"I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine!" Ruby waved off "Is it weird that I want to smell these?" Ruby finally asked very quietly earning confusion from Yang and Weiss but Blake began to blush a lot she was growing redder by the second

"What was that Ruby?" Weiss asked as she sat down at one of the desks

"NOTHING!" Ruby waved off "Is it getting late? We should probably all go to sleep we got a lot of work to do tomorrow!" Ruby avoided quickly as she rolled onto her bed and threw the blanket over her

"Blake what did Ruby say?" Yang asked turning to Blake who Opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a flurry of red rose petals rapidly surrounding her which quickly formed Ruby who was covering her mouth

"Nothing. Yang. Right Blake?" Ruby asked a blush covering her cheeks, Blake nodded and Ruby released her with a sigh

"She wants to know if they smell like Esdeath." Blake said quickly Ruby dived to try and stop her again but tackled a shadow clone instead

"Ruby, thats kinda weird. But to each their own." Yang said calmly she then spoke again this time her voice sounded wrong "I cant really do anything to stop her so..." Yang then turned to Weiss

"What?" Weiss asked not understanding why Yang was staring at her

"You're the only one to land a hit on her out of all of us." Yang answered earning an out raged look from Weiss

"I stabbed myself!" Weiss clarified as she placed her hand over where she now had a scar

"Okay and? I already tried twice, it didn't work out either time." Yang shot back

"What happened the second time?" Ruby asked earning a quick glare from Yang

"I lost." Yang answered quickly and coldly

"How'd you lose so badly that you gave up? I've never seen that happen, even with dad! You still cant beat him but you've been trying sense before you even got close to getting into signal!" Ruby questioned

"I don't wanna talk about it. So just drop it." Yang growled a bit her mind wandering back to Esdeath again, she wanted to forget her loss, her stupid idea that she could beat that woman, and the fact that she just made herself relive that defeat again

"Okay... its just weird." Ruby agreed and backed up a bit from her angered sister

"Sorry, lets just... get some sleep." Yang apologized and leapt up onto her bed, Ruby followed soon after with her bed and then Weiss and Blake after they finished their work.

**(o)**

a week later things had seemed to change quite greatly, Esdeath and Ruby began to spend more time together, Yang barely had any sleep and was clearly suffering from it, Weiss and Blake spent their time studying and training with Winter, Qrow and Akame trained together and could constantly be found sitting together in complete silence leaning on each other, Neo could occasionally be seen with Akame when shes not with Qrow. The tournament was set to begin in a few hours and everyone prepared themselves for whats to come

**(o)**

"So, what _did_ you choose to do?" Qrow asked as he and Akame sat on the packed airship leading to Amity

"In the end I decided against joining." Akame answered sadly and looked down

"Doesn't matter to me." Qrow waved off then happily continued "I'm just glad that I have a whole month off to spend with you."

"I'm glad that we can too." Akame agreed, most people would think they would get tired of each other or get annoyed with each other but that never happened, if anything they enjoyed to spend time together

"Yo, whats up you two?" Rubys voice came, looking in her direction they saw her and Esdeath

"Nothing much, we're just going to get good seats." Qrow answered then spoke again this time far more carefully "I thought you were going to visit your mom."

"I was planing on heading there later today." Ruby answered earning interest from Esdeath

"Do you mind if I come with? I'd like to meet her." Esdeath asked warmly Qrow and Ruby shared a look

"Umm... her mom isn't with us." Qrow answered carefully "Its a bit of a sore spot." Qrow finished while Ruby looked downtrodden

"I didn't know. I apologize." Esdeath said and placed her hand on Rubys' shoulder

"Its okay... I don't mind if you come with." Ruby said after a few quiet seconds, Esdeath then pulled Ruby into a one armed hug

"Alright, we'll go find a place to sit now." Esdeath said and turned to leave but was stopped by Akame grabbing her wrist

"Sit." Akame said as she stood, Qrow followed her up letting Esdeath and Ruby sit

"Thank you Akame, I'm sorry for bringing down the mood." Ruby apologized as they sat

"Don't worry about it, me and father will look for somewhere else to sit." Akame waved off as they shifted a bit and she held onto Qrow and her stomach

"Yeah, the turbulence can get a bit much when you get this high." Qrow said as he placed his hand on her shoulder holding her a bit steadier

Esdeath stood and placed her hand on Akames shoulder "Sit." was all she said as she guided Akame to her seat, all four of them enjoyed the moment an continued to wait for their transport to land, Ruby was excited, Akame was sick, Qrow and Esdeath knew it was going to be very boring to watch...

**A/N And it ends, I feel like this Volume took way longer than it should have. But with how everything has gone I'm surprised I haven't missed a day yet... or at least I don't think I did... did I miss Christmas? I don't remember. Anyways much like what I did with volume one I'm gonna go back and do with Crow of Night Raid, mainly because when I did it with volume 1 a lot more people caught up so it got me thinking that some people are waiting for the update for Crow of Night Raid or have completely forgotten so I'll be notifying all of them. Once that's done well move onto Volume 3... I'll take a few weeks off two or three but after that I'll more than likely bring it back, I cant stay off it for too long. I know that very well.**


	13. Kill the Rose part 2

**TLDR- VOLUME 3 IS OUT AND READY TO READ**

Summer walked down the street towards Najendas' house for what seemed to be the fiftieth time this month, with a sigh she pulled down her hood and knocked on the front door, it was quickly opened by Najenda who smiled at her

"Summer, good to see you." Najenda greeted with a grin "Me and Mine were just talking about you."

"Yeah, how are you feeling? I remember that your health has been dropping." Summer asked as she entered causing Najenda to scoff

"Meh, don't worry about me, I do have the best healthcare in the capital." Najenda said as she pulled the door shut, the front room was bare and minimal, entering the kitchen Mine was sitting with an apple in hand, her outfit has changed a little, while she was still wearing her usual clothing she also had additions similar to tatsumis', Summer sat down next to Mine who pat her on the shoulder

"Welcome back, Empires strongest." Mine commented after she finished chewing

"Is that what people have taken to calling me?" Summer asked with a slight cringe

"Its better you than Esdeath." Najenda said as she joined them at the large table

"Sadly you didn't know her the same way I knew her." Summer commented looking in the distance "She is kind, but she just... had a hard time showing it."

"Forgive me for not believing you." Najenda shot coldly as she grabbed her robotic arm

"Well... its not like my parting with her was any better." Summer said with a slight cringe at the memory

"I'm sure..." Najenda snarked looking at both of Summers eyes and arms

"Hey! She stabbed me in the throat, that just as bad as losing an arm, trust me, both has happened to me." Summer snarked with a false pout

"So, Boss wanted me here to watch her treatment, and I was going to visit Tatsumi later so... you know, can we hurry this up?" Mine asked earning a nod from both woman

"Fine, fine, well do this now." Summer said as she stood and removed her cloak, Najenda stood and removed her arm and shirt and lied down on the table, Summer walked to the corner where there was a basin of water dunking her hands in the water Summer closed her eyes and the water gained a cyan glow and hugged to her flesh as she removed them from the water, turning she crossed the distance between her and Najenda and placed her hands over Najendas' heart and mind causing the woman to let out a sigh of relief and she then fell limp

"Najenda has suffered serious injuries in her life, the pain will never subside completely but I can use my powers to help her relax for a while." Summer explained as she looked to Mine who watched the water with some form of fascination

"So, Esdeath used ice, and you use water... I feel like Empires strongest fits you." Mine commented earning a scoff from Summer

"I can use far more than just water, water is just used for healing, I can also fight with lightning, earth, and fire, ice is also something that I can fight with." Summer explained confidently "But I will say I feel guilty for what happened to Najenda. I had a chance to kill her long ago but... well... I'm too nice to kill someone I care for."

"I still don't know whats so great about her." Mine coldly shot watching Najenda slowly smile

"She needed nothing, and if it helped you help her she would do anything for you. Back in the academy we were... quite close, I think I talked to Najenda like twice but me and Esdeath talked quite a few times..." Summer began

**(\\_/)**

_Summer sat down to eat taking a quick look at her food she noticed that it was poisoned, with a sigh Summer pushed the food away from her_

"_Not enjoying your food?" Esdeath asked as she sat down across from Summer_

"_Meh, I'd prefer if it had less poison in it." Summer snarked earning a grin from Esdeath_

"_I wish people tried what they are doing to you with me, it'd be good opportunity to learn some new ways to deal with people." Esdeath said clearly not happy about the nothing happening to her, Summer let out a sigh_

"_Last night Hauruka tried to stab me in the throat." Summer said after a few moments of silence, earning a hum from Esdeath_

"_Well that's no good, don't you have anyone to watch over you while you rest? Or have you though about finding somewhere to sleep that no one knows about?" Esdeath questioned earning a nod from Summer_

"_Yeah I've tried that but, most have people following me." Summer said pointing over her shoulder, Esdeath caught sight of a young man who kept shooting Summer glances, earning a hum of agreement from Esdeath_

"_If you can teach me how to tell what a persons true nature is then I'll protect you as you sleep." Esdeath offered after a few moments of thought_

"_I can do that, its not that hard to learn if someone teaches you." Summer agreed earning a pat on the head from Esdeath_

"_Good, lets go get you some sleep, and once you're awake you can teach me, about how to see a persons true nature!" Esdeath happily said as she dragged Summer away ignoring her protests_

_**(\\_/)**_

_Summer opened her eyes and yawned her bedding was quite comfortable, she stared off at the tree she was facing for a few moments, blinking a few times she realized she wasn't in her bed, in her barracks or somewhere safe, quickly sitting up Esdeath placed her hand on her head and stopped her from banging her head into hers_

"_Careful." Esdeath growled earning a long slue of apologizes from Summer, which caused Esdeath to roll her eyes "Stop, it doesn't matter, you are going to teach me anyways, so I'm more than happy to help you, so long as you don't stab me in the back." Esdeath added earning a slow nod from Summer who repositioned herself to lean against the tree near them_

"_Right, right... okay, so this is how it goes; When you're sitting around a large group of people you know how you can feel people who stare at you?" Summer asked earning a nod "Okay, so what you do is amplify your aura it doesn't matter if its killing intent or just your emotions, you amplify one and that'll cause theirs to amplify too, I use my emotions because people cant detect those, killing intent can scare people too, or tell them that you're trying to find them, so if you want to do it effectively you need to find something that people cant feel." Summer lectured earning a nod from Esdeath_

"_I can do that, I expect these lessons to continue." Esdeath said earning a nod from Summer_

"_HOLY CATS! I COMPLETELY FOR GOT!" Summer shouted before nearly vanishing into thin air_

"_Holy cats?" Esdeath asked her self as she stood and followed after Summer who reappeared directly in front of her_

"_WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING HERE!? WERE GONNA MISS THE COMBAT EXAM!" Summer shouted at her she then spoke normally "This is gonna be a little strange but... hold on." Summer said a red glow enveloping her for a moment "Okay punch me as hard as you possibly can." Summer ordered and spread her arms, Esdeath didnt need to be told twice cocking back her fist she swung sending Summer sprawled, quickly standing Summer ordered her to do it again, that happened four more times, she then picked up Esdeath bridal style_

"_Right, this is gonna look weird, but... you know... hold on tight." Summer said and prepared to run_

"_I'm pretty sure we could run faster if-" Esdeath began but held her tongue when everything became a blur for a few moments, they then came to a rough stop in front of their Strategic combat class and Summer put her down with a sigh_

"_Okay... lets... do this!" Summer happily panted earning a smile from Esdeath_

"_Lets." Esdeath agreed and pushed the door open and gestured for Summer to enter first..._

**(o)**

"That was far better than how we parted ways." Summer said finishing her story

"So... was Esdeaths' chest sti-" Mine slowly began to asked but was cut off by Summer who answered her tone clearly frustrated "Huge? Yes... stupid... genetics..." Before Summer could continue that tangent she changed the subject "So... hows the kids?"

"They are fine, but running an orphanage isn't really how I expected I'd spend my time after the war." Mine complained earning a laugh from Summer

"I'm sure, it doesn't really matter all that much but, if you need someone to help around there I'm happy to help." Summer offered happily earning a happy noise from Mine

"Thank you! After Run... died, I've been short staffed." Mine thanked earning a neutral hum from Summer

"Yeah, about that, you have so much money left over, why don't you hire anyone else?.. cause last I checked it was just you." Summer questioned earning a hum from Najenda

"Well... I... just... don't like paying people." Mine answered earning a laugh from Najenda and Summer

"I understand why you weren't put in charge of any administrative jobs." Summer joked

"HEY! I'm great with money... just not good at letting it go." Mine defended

"I know, now that should do it Najenda." Summer said sending the water back to the basin as Najenda sat up

"Thank you again Summer, its been getting harder to keep up the past few years." Najenda thanked as she pulled on her shirt and reconnected her arm

"No need to worry, after what you lot did for the kingdom, I cant do enough to thank you." Summer waved off with a bright smile

the three girls went on to talk the night away, until the early morning came to tell them that they've spent too much time talking, and that the days work would be hell, a long strand of almost curses could be heard from Summer through out the day, a long strand of actual curses could be heard from Najenda through out the day, and an enjoyable nap came for Mine as thanks from the children she gave shelter to, as penance for the things she'd done in the name of revolution.

**A/N VOLUME 3 IS OUT AND READY TO READ, other than that I completely forgot to write up one of these for Volume 2 so this is a bit late to the party, and im sorry for that.**


End file.
